Tithonia Goldfinger

The Mexican Sunflower — and one of the finest butterfly plants you can grow. Tithonia Goldfinger produces spectacular, velvety flowers in glowing orange-red with brilliant golden eyes, rapidly creating a shrub-like mass of foliage that provides architectural drama and a high-energy feast for Red Admirals, Peacocks, and Painted Ladies from August until the first frosts.

An RHS Award of Garden Merit variety. Hollow stems need staking — grow in blocks where plants can support each other, or stake individually. Wait until June to plant out; cold soil causes sulking.

• Tithonia rotundifolia 'Goldfinger' — RHS AGM, Half-Hardy Annual (H2)
• Height: 90–120cm | Flowers: August–first frost
• Approximately 20 seeds per packet
• Sow indoors March–May at 20–25°C; plant out June only
• Full sun; rich, fertile soil — feed fortnightly from July
• Stake or grow in blocks — hollow stems are brittle
• Outstanding butterfly plant

Grow it with Rudbeckia Marmalade for a smouldering late-summer border of orange-red and golden-orange that butterflies will find from miles away.