After yesterday's pause for the subtlety, discretion, elegance of my Black-and-White (well, green-and-white) Daphne houtteana, I for one need a compensatory slap-in-the-face of big, bright, and bodacious.

Here's a shot out over the Mixed Border. It's as high as I can reach and higher: I'm standing on a chair and holding the camera overhead even to get this overview.
It's a bit like looking out over the canopy of the jungle. You've gotta be reaching sky-high to bask in the clear sun. Especially at the back of the bed, where even the shrimps are seven feet and taller.

Hey, right at the back left: Those stalks with long narrow leaves.


How cool are they?
Arcing out, flexing downward: These are leaves with strength, specificity, personality.

Seen from the back of the bed (and on a sunny day), you can see what a mighty plant this is.


It's a perennial, with thumb-thick stalks that are already nine feet tall and yet don't show a sign of budding out.
So they'll get taller still.

Welcome to Maximilian's sunflower, Helianthus maximilianii.

An East-of-the-Mississippi native, it's so drought-proof that High Country Gardens in New Mexico sells it.

In September, the showy foliage is showered with hundreds of bright yellow daisies...

...which is a note of tedium: So few late-Summer daisies are anything but bright yellow.

High Country found this paler version, Lemon Yellow, which is what's backing up my Mixed Border.

The flowers are actually bi-colored, with lemon centers and white tips.
So this is a daisy with size, energy, "ka-blam" floral intensity, great foliage, and subtlety. Far as I can tell, High Country is the only vendor.

As with all of these giant daisies, full sun is best. Maximilianii can be a floppy mess if it gets too much water, too much shade, or too rich a soil. On the other hand, in lean soil and with less water, it's probably shorter and even sturdier. (I'm going to test out its tolerance for the high-and-dry life by including it in a large xeric garden I'm creating for a client in Wellesley.) I've only now given mine a bit of "prophyllactic" staking: It's not flopping yet, and with two huge stakes and some twine, it never will.

Stay tuned for a post on the flowers.