Ornamental · Asteraceae
Bidens
Bidens ferulifolia
Plant it in full sun and average soil, and bidens throws golden flowers from spring straight through to frost.
Full sun
Every 2–4 days
USDA 8–11
10–15 in · 25–38 cm
Overview
Bidens is a low, spreading member of the daisy family, grown for months of cheerful bloom rather than for the dinner table. It tumbles out of baskets and containers and weaves through the front of a border, covered in small flowers that most often come in gold. Gardeners reach for it because it asks so little and gives so much.
Once it settles in, bidens shrugs off heat and drought and keeps flowering when fussier plants quit. It runs fast and stays short, rarely climbing past knee height, so it fills the gaps and spills over edges instead of standing tall. The newer named selections widen the palette beyond gold into white, pink, and two-tone blooms.
It's a tender plant at heart, grown as a warm-season annual across most gardens, replanted each spring once the cold lets go. Give it sun and a spot that drains well and it more or less runs itself. Cut it back once midsummer and it answers with a fresh wave of flower.
Care
The short version: full sun, average well-drained soil, and steady but not soggy water. Feed container plants through the season, pinch the plant back once in midsummer, and it blooms without deadheading.
Light
Bidens wants full sun, and the more it gets the better it flowers. It will put up with a little afternoon shade, but in real shade the plant stretches thin and the bloom thins out with it.
Water
Let the top of the soil dry between drinks rather than keeping it wet, since soggy roots are the one thing bidens won't forgive. It handles heat and drought well once established, though pots and baskets dry out fast and need water more often through the summer.
Soil
Average, well-drained ground is all it asks for, with nothing rich or special needed. A pH anywhere from 6.0 to 7.0 suits it, so most garden soil works as long as the water moves through.
Temperature
Bidens grows happily through warm weather and tolerates a wide span, from around 36°F to 86°F (2°C to 30°C). It won't take a hard frost, though, which is why most gardeners grow it fresh each spring.
Humidity
Ordinary outdoor humidity is fine, so there's nothing to measure or adjust. What matters more is air moving freely around the plant, since stagnant, crowded growth invites mildew and mold.
Feeding
Plants in the ground rarely need feeding, but containers and baskets run through their nutrients fast. Give those a balanced water-soluble feed every two weeks through the growing season to keep the flowers coming.
Pruning
Bidens blooms without any deadheading, so you can leave the spent flowers be. If it sprawls or goes leggy by midsummer, shear or pinch it back and it returns thicker and covered in fresh bloom.
Size & spacing
Plants stay low, reaching about 10 to 15 inches (25 to 38 cm) tall while spreading 12 to 24 inches (30 to 61 cm) wide. Give each one room to trail and the patch knits together into a sheet of flower.
When to plant
Bidens has no tolerance for frost, so it waits on warm weather. Start seed indoors in late winter, set plants out once the last frost has passed and the soil has warmed, and the flowers carry on from late spring all the way to the first frost of fall.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: 6 to 8 weeks before the last spring frost
- Plant: after the last spring frost when soil has warmed
- Harvest: late spring through fall until frost
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 8–11
Temperature: down to -12°C
Troubleshooting
Bidens stays mostly trouble-free, but a few pests and molds turn up in the wrong conditions. Most show on the new growth or the flowers first. Match what you see below and step in early, while it's still easy to fix.
Speckled, bronzed leaves with faint webbing in the heat
Spider mites move in during hot, dry spells, draining the leaves until they look stippled and dull. Tap a leaf over white paper and you'll see the specks crawl. Rinse the foliage to knock them back, and reach for insecticidal soap or a labeled miticide if they keep at it.
Fix:
- Rinse foliage with water to reduce populations
- Apply insecticidal soap or a labeled miticide if infestation persists
Gray fuzzy mold on the flowers in damp weather
Cool, wet stretches bring on botrytis, the gray mold that fuzzes over spent blooms and rots the soft tissue beneath. Pick off and bin the affected flowers and leaves before it spreads. Give the plant more room so the foliage dries fast after rain.
Fix:
- Remove and discard affected flowers and foliage
- Increase spacing and air circulation to dry foliage
Sticky new shoots crowded with tiny soft insects
Those clusters are aphids, and they gather on the tenderest tips where the sap runs sweet. The sticky film they leave behind is honeydew. Blast them off with a hard jet of water, then follow up with insecticidal soap if any hang on.
Fix:
- Spray plants with a strong stream of water to dislodge aphids
- Apply insecticidal soap to affected growth as needed
Dusty white film coating the leaves
That chalky bloom is powdery mildew, and it settles in where plants sit crowded with stagnant air. Open things up by thinning and spacing the plants, and strip off the worst of the coated leaves. Full sun and moving air keep it from coming back.
Fix:
- Improve air circulation by thinning and spacing plants
- Remove and discard heavily affected foliage
Toxicity
Good news for a household with pets or grazing animals: bidens carries no known toxin. It doesn't appear on the ASPCA list of poisonous plants, so a nibbled leaf is nothing to panic over. It's still grown for show rather than for eating, so there's no need to encourage the habit.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats Safe
Bidens is not on the ASPCA toxic plant list, so a curious cat that nibbles a leaf has nothing to fear. A big mouthful of any plant can still bring on a little drooling or an upset stomach, so there's no harm in steering it away.
Dogs Safe
Dogs can be around bidens without worry, since it carries no known toxin. A dog that chews a stem might get a mildly queasy belly, the way any plant material can disagree with one, but nothing serious follows.
Horses Safe
Horses graze around bidens with no danger. It isn't a poisonous plant, and there are no reports of it harming them.
Rabbits Safe
A rabbit can sample bidens safely. As with any rich green, a sudden large helping is better avoided, but the plant itself holds nothing harmful.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep can browse near bidens without trouble, as it carries no toxin that affects grazing animals.
Birds Safe
Bidens poses no threat to birds, which often pick at the spent flower heads for seed. Backyard hens can forage around it freely.
People Safe
Bidens is an ornamental grown for its flowers, not for the table, but it is not poisonous to handle or to be around. There's no need to keep children at a distance, though it isn't something to eat.
Varieties
The plain species is gold, but breeders have pushed bidens into new colors and steadier habits. These are the named selections worth knowing.
Blazing Fire
Its bicolor blooms burn red-orange at the center and fade out to gold at the petal tips, and it held up as a uniform, dependable grower in University of Georgia trials.
White Delight
This one breaks from the usual yellow with creamy white flowers, a softer look that earned it a spot in the University of Georgia trials.
Pretty in Pink
A pink-flowered selection that trades the familiar gold for a gentler shade, also put through the University of Georgia trials.
Mexican Gold Improved
An upgraded take on the classic golden-yellow species, refined and trialed at the University of Georgia for a stronger garden showing.
How to propagate
Bidens is easy to multiply, whether you want exact copies of a favorite hybrid or a tray of seedlings to fill out the beds.
Stem cuttingsEasy
Spring through summer during active growth · About 2 to 4 weeks to root
Cuttings are the way to copy a named hybrid, since the new plant keeps every trait of the one you took it from. Snip a soft tip while the plant is growing hard in spring or summer, and it roots in roughly 2 to 4 weeks.
SeedEasy
Start indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last spring frost · Germinates in roughly 1 to 2 weeks at warm temperatures
The species and the open-pollinated forms come up easily from seed, though named hybrids often don't breed true. Sow indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost and keep the tray warm, and the seedlings break ground in about 1 to 2 weeks.
Myths
Ornamental bidens is poisonous to dogs and cats.
Bidens never appears on the ASPCA toxic plant database, and the ornamental Bidens ferulifolia is treated as non-toxic to pets. A dog or cat that chews a leaf isn't in danger, though there's no reason to let them treat any garden plant as a snack.
Garden bidens spreads aggressively by clinging seeds the way weedy beggarticks do.
Wild bidens earn the name beggarticks from two-pronged seeds that hitch a ride on fur and clothing. The garden ferulifolia hybrids are a different story: grown as warm-season annuals and often bred as low-seeding selections, they don't sprawl across the yard the way their weedy cousins do.