Virginia ecotype
Duration: Perennial
Habit: Upright, clump-forming, naturalizing
Size: Typically 1.5 to 3 feet tall; about 1 to 2 feet wide
Flowering Time: July to October
Bloom Color: Yellow with purple to brown central disks
Habitat: Moist meadows, streambanks, marsh edges, open woods, and roadside ditches
Moisture: Average to moist; prefers well-drained to seasonally wet soils
Light: Full sun to part sun; best showing in full sun
Soils: Loamy or clay soils; tolerates a range of conditions with sufficient moisture
Uses: Pollinator gardens, meadow plantings, rain gardens, wetland restoration, late-season color
Helenium flexuosum (Purple-headed sneezeweed)
Helenium flexuosum, commonly known as purple-headed sneezeweed or southern sneezeweed, brings vibrant late-summer and fall color to moist natural areas and garden settings. It typically grows up to 3 feet tall and produces numerous daisy-like flowers with bright yellow ray petals surrounding a purplish-brown central disk. It blooms profusely from midsummer into early fall.
Despite the name "sneezeweed," the plant is not allergenic; historically, its dried parts were used as a snuff to induce sneezing. Ecologically, Helenium flexuosum supports a wide variety of native pollinators, including bees, butterflies, and syrphid flies. It is especially valuable for providing nectar and pollen during the late season, when fewer native plants are in bloom. Additionally, Helenium support several specialist bees.
Sneezeweed's tolerance for moist, occasionally wet soils makes it ideal for rain gardens, bioswales, and naturalized wetland edges, where it can stabilize soil and support ecological function. It is adaptable to average garden soil, so long as it does not dry out.
Deer and rabbits tend to avoid Helenium, making it a resilient option in landscapes with browsing pressure.