A Sweet Surprise: ‘Route 66’ Coreopsis

by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 16, 2014 | albany, Coreopsis, East Bay, flowerland, perennials

I went out early this morning to hand-water a few newly-planted seedlings, and found a surprise on my front porch– two 4″ blooming ‘Route 66’ Coreopsis starts! I was genuinely puzzled because, upon inspecting the tag, I noticed they came from Emerisa Gardens, a wholesaler that doesn’t deliver to Sacramento nurseries. This discovery took place during my pre-coffee fog, so I didn’t put two and two together until I went back inside and told Kim about the mystery plants on our front porch.

He then revealed that he had stopped by Flowerland in Albany on his way to Oakland yesterday afternoon. Sweet! And completely unexpected. What’s even sweeter is that he tried to find the ‘Redshift’ Coreopsis I had admired on a previous visit to Flowerland. Both ”Redshift’ and ‘Route 66’ have a red to yellow color shift that makes this fall bloomer pretty exciting to me. Click here for a profile of ‘Route 66’ in Fine Gardening.

I admit, I’m easily entertained. My mom told me that when I was little, I could amuse myself with things of nature… dandelions… ladybugs… “for hours”. Doesn’t surprise me. It’s probably why I still think or say, “Ooh, hummingbird” every time one visits my feeder. You’d think the novelty of nature would wear off at my age, but nope.

Ooh, hummingbird! Ooh, ‘Route 66’ Coreopsis! Pit-tee birdy. Pit-tee fower!