Merchandisers and manufacterers say that products in yellow packages sell better than in any other colour.
Yellow is apparently the colour of friendship, as in giving yellow roses or yellow carnations.
Yellow is also a primary colour, along with blue and red. The complimentary colour of yellow is purple, which is opposite on the colour wheel.
Yellow and purple flowers look wonderful together, but yellow flowers don’t really look ‘bad’ with anything at all.
Top 10 Flowers That Bloom Yellow
Yellow Corydalis
Corydalis lutea is a great low-growing plant for partial or full shade.
Its delicate leaves mingle nicely with all kinds of shade plants, including bleeding hearts and grey-leaved hostas. They bloom prolifically from May to September, and are very trouble-free, even in the slug manna of the Pacific coast.
If there is one plant I highly recommend for shaded beds, this is it.
Corydalis are well-known for their ability to self-seed, and Corydalis lutea is no exception.
Plant one small plant where you would like many. After the mother plant flowers, do not disturb the soil except to remove weeds. The next year, transplant the seedlings to other parts of the garden.
They will all flower in their second year.
Tickseed
Coreopsis verticillata is a very hardy perennial, surviving winters as cold as -25 degrees celcius ( degrees farenheit). It grows naturally in open woods and clearings in dry soil, flowering from June to August.
It’s flowers are golden yellow, and held on top of stems to 120 cm (4 feet) tall.
The variety pictured at the left is ‘Moonbeam’, which is slightly shorter, and bears flowers in a cool pale yellow, with darker foliage.
Plant in full sun or a little shade. Coreopsis can be invasive if left alone, but is perfect for those who have a large space to fill, or like to take lots of divisions and give them away. This one is great for container gardeners – plant one small Coreopsis plant in a 5 gallon container for beautiful blooms year after year.
After Coreopsis finishes its first flush of blooms, it generally takes a little break, but during this time, they aren’t unattractive. They look like little buttons. Cut the whole plant back by about 1/3 when the buttons are more numerous than the flowers.
The sheared foliage is neat and unobtrusive.
The plant will then rebloom.
Leopard’s Bane
There are many species of Doronicum, and no matter which one you choose, you will be rewarded with the first golden daisies of the flower year. All Leopard’s Banes prefer moist soil in full sun or partial shade.
There are double Doronicums and dwarf Doronicums, but all have large, sulphur yellow flowers to 8 cm (3 inches) across.
Cotton Lavender
Santolina chamaecyparissus is a highly-grey leaved plant, in fact, one of the greyest around. Like most grey plants, this one tolerates extreme heat and tolerates drought.
All that fuzz on the leaves helps to protect it from the elements. It is normally grown for it’s clean scent, for use in crafts (the stems dry wonderfully), or as a shrubby edge for herb gardens. In mid-summer, Cotton Lavender sends up bright yellow buttons, highly ornamental in their own right.
The buttons last for the rest of the summer, fading to brown over time.
Santolina is hardy to -15 degrees celcius, but will live in colder climates than that.
At -20 degrees celcius, the shrub is cut back to the ground by the cold, and resprouts from the base. It doesn’t matter how mild your climate is if you plant Santolina in a wet spot.
These shrubs don’t tolerate wet feet in the winter.
Be sure to plant in an area with good drainage if lots of winter precipitation is an issue.
When the plants become straggly, clip back to shape, much as you would a lavender. Some gardeners find that Santolina is short-lived. I have had one plant for 7 years, and it shows no sign of fading.
Santolina has a long history as a medicinal herb.
Golden-Chain Tree
All parts of Laburnum vossii are poisonous to eat, but for a short time in mid-spring these trees send forth large, hanging clusters of bright yellow flowers. It is a bean relative, so they have the appearance of a large yellow wisteria tree. They are fast growing — a tree planted at 6 feet tall can attain a height of 15 feet or more in 6 years.
Their eventual height is normally about 25 feet in total, and they flower reliably from the second year after planting.
After the flowers fade and drop off, 2-inch brown pods cling until winter.
These are the part of the tree that most often leads to poisoning cases, so be sure to keep these out of reach of children. Despite this drawback, laburnums make an excellent choice for small gardens.
They are virtually pest and disease free.
Daylilies Hemerocallis come in many colours, but the colour they do best is probably yellow.
Golden Marguerites
Argyranthemum frutescens are available in white, yellow and pink varieties, and is the only annual plant mentioned in this article on yellow flowers.
There are many more annuals in yellow, such as marigolds, the new ‘Seashells’ impatiens, and many more, but Marguerites are some of the most serviceable plants available for a wide range of gardening conditions.
They are very popular, and rightly so!
They have bright green, healthy looking foliage and abundant daisy-like flowers all summer long. Small plants set out in the spring will grow to be 4 feet across by summer.
Plant in full sun, or partial shade in hot areas.
They prefer light, well worked soil.
I call these annuals, but in mild climates with winters above -8 degrees celcius, these will grow as perennials, and can become shrubby. If you live in such an area, be sure to prune lightly as mentioned above.
Cutting into leafless, hardened wood will not result in new growth from that stem.
Bog Marigold
Caltha palustris is the first of the pond plants to flower in the spring.
It’s bright yellow, buttercup-like flowers are testament to it’s many relations – Buttercups, Trollius, Geums and a wide range of very agreeable, freely blooming plants.
Marsh marigold produces 2-inch yellow flowers in the springtime.
The plants tolerate sun or some shade but in the sun they must have very moist soil. They prefer a wet, slightly acid soil and can be grown near water.
The leaves are shiny and bright green.
Chinese Witch Hazel
There are many hybrids of Witch Hazel, but the hardy Hamamelis mollis is still the easiest to grow. This shrub or small tree can eventually reach 30 feet tall, but it takes many years to achieve that height.
It is more commonly seen as a large shrub to 15 feet tall.
In mid- to late-winter, the tiny buds pop open to reveal sparse pom-poms of bright yellow petals. In the centre are the sexual parts, normally chocolate brown. The flowers are highly fragrant, with a spicey edge to them.
The flowers last a few weeks, and make excellent cut flowers indoors.
After the flowers fade, the branches sit bare for up to two months.
Then, large, slightly fuzzy leaves appear, and stay all summer. Witch Hazels grown in full sun have excellent fall colour, from orange to deep red, depending on the amount of sun and rain you receive in your area.
Globe Flower
Trollius — More buttercup-like flowers for the garden.
Why not just grow buttercups you ask? The reason is that Globe Flowers are much longer blooming, not nearly as invasive, and are generally better behaved than buttercups.
That said, they have all the good features of buttercups…
- Ease of growth
- Free-flowering habit
- Gorgeous yellow blooms
Grow in full sun or partial shade. Globe Flowers prefer moist soil that doesn’t dry out, and tolerate boggy conditions.
Cushion Spurge
Euphorbia ploychroma forms 40 cm hummocks that bear bright yellow flowers in April and May.
This Spurge is great for partial shade, but unlike many of the others, prefers good soil. There is also a very beautiful purple leaved variety called ‘Purpurea’, but this is very rare.
Hardy to -25 degrees celcius