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Bidens Aurea (the big one)

FiddlingOnFiddlingOn Posts: 84
in Plants
I've 3 bidens aurea that I planted this year. They really took off, although already tall and flowering when I bought them they are now 4 and 1/2 feet (140 cm) high and continue to flower well 3 and 1/2 months down the line. As they've bushed out over time they now flop quite a bit so they need a bit of support. Anyway, I'm very pleased with them and hope to keep them for next year. According to the RHS they need mulching in Autumn but it doesn't say a great deal else.
Could anyone please tell me whether in their experience they come back well and do they wait until they stop flowering before cutting them down, if they do at all? I don't really want to just leave them as I'm planning on planting some tulips in that bed and they'll get in my way once I remove the supports. 
(Although I have 3 Chandos Beauty planted this year too so I may eventually have to take them out completely as the roses grow.)
Any tips gratefully received!
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  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    edited November 2022
    @FiddlingOn  Best grown amoungst other late flowering perennials so that the plants can support them. Late creamy yellow flowers which work well with the brighter colours of Autumn. They will be fine over winter infact by the spring you may think they have taken off too much!
    A friend grows them in a large herbaceous border with kniphofias, heleniums, helianthus plus grasses. This is where this tall bidens looks best.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • WoodgreenWoodgreen Posts: 1,273
    edited November 2022
    FiddlingOn said:

    (Although I have 3 Chandos Beauty planted this year too so I may eventually have to take them out completely as the roses grow.)
    Any tips gratefully received!
    I don't wish to sound like a wet blanket @FiddlingOn, but I too found this plant difficult to support and impossible to keep within bounds.
    I had it in too narrow a border, where it's constant collapse was detrimental to other plants and a nuisance falling onto the mown grass. I decided to dig it all out. This has proved impossible as it has grown through the  roots and crown of an established peony and hides in the roots of a climbing hydrangea where I can't dig it out.. It's flowering now, but the only upright stem is one that grew up into the climbing hydrangea. 
    If you keep it among your roses I would strongly advise chopping around it regularly to prevent it invading the roses.
    A lovely flower, in a pleasing shade of light yellow/cream but I've found it to be a thug here.

  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @FiddlingOn I think if you take a trowel and dig around the main culmp you may find lots of spreading roots just under the soil. These will be your problem next year. You could give them a chop but there are always lots of tiny roots which will regrow.
     It is a lovely plant but as I mentioned for a large border where it will stand tall with some support from twigs or canes and other tall late perennials.. Having a flower that is creamy yellow at this time of year is a bonus lovely with all the autumn coloursbut it comes with a warning.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • FiddlingOnFiddlingOn Posts: 84
    Well thank you so much for your responses @GardenerSuze and @Woodgreen! That has me decided; what with the flopping everywhere and potentially interfering with my lovely Chandos Beautys - it's got to come out. I shall also pass on the information as I wasn't the only one to buy this at the time and they too were wondering what to do with it now. From what you've said, I reckon it's going to have put on some robust root growth looking at how it has filled out since planting. It's been gorgeous while it was in so not all bad. You've both saved me a lot of future work and it will make planting my tulips a lot easier with it gone. Hope you manage to eventually conquer it, @Woodgreen! Thanks again.  
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @FiddlingOn I hate to give this plant the thumbs down as it is so lovely. I think it would work in a cutting garden, or an allotment with flowers for cutting. If that is any help to your gardening friends.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • WoodgreenWoodgreen Posts: 1,273
    GardenerSuze said:
    but it comes with a warning.
    If only the warning was on the label though, and not having to be passed on by other gardeners who have bought it/been given it only to find it requires hard work and perseverance to remove. Many of us are not getting any younger and can do without this. Sadly, when my friend bought it from a reputable nursery, there was no indication on the description that it could be invasive. As with so many plants.......
    In hindsight, the fact that she was digging clumps up and giving them to friends so soon after planting it should have sounded an alarm perhaps.
    She too gave up on it but I haven't checked if it gave up on her!


  • FiddlingOnFiddlingOn Posts: 84
    @Woodgreen, well I normally keep all the labels of the plants I buy but I couldn't find one for this purchase from a nursery so I think it probably came without one. Agree, it would be most useful to have information on invasiveness but suspect then they might find them harder to sell! Obviously a case of right plant, right place.
  • WoodgreenWoodgreen Posts: 1,273
    Maybe a prairie garden?
    Or a prairie!
    🤣
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    I have never seen it for sale at a garden centre. It does seem to do the rounds from friends to friends I wonder why? The top online nurseries have it but not all give a warning on it's rapid growth. Looks lovely on a local plant stall but buyer beware. 
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Not a plant I'm familiar with at all, but perhaps it would be better suited to a border with shrubs to give it support. 
    I've always thought all Bidens were annuals. Every day's a school day  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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