You are right, Bob. They don't work in pots. Mine last year were huge and eventually fell over, but kept blooming. One plant took over a very large area. I will grow them next year, but stake them in the beginning and give them plenty of room. They do attract the butterflies though:)

As usual, your pictures are great, Bob!
I didn't plant them this year, but used their bed for zinnias instead. Next year I'll probably do Mexican sunflowers again. Nothing attracts the big guys any better than these, but I have to plant mine in a bed by the fence, so I can tie them to the fence. They get big and after a good rain, they all fall over unless staked or tied up.
Here's a giant swallowtail on one -
{{gwi:334043}}
Sherry

My Tithonia are spectacular this year but they did take a beating during tropical storm Irene and I had to stake them back up straight.

I haven't grown the small cultivar (can't remember the name), but have grown 'Aztec sun' for several years, and the plants are much smaller than the orange species and it has gold-colored flowers.

Are the flowers on 'Aztec Sun' as big as the regulars, terrene? The big flowers give the big butterflies a good landing pad - if the flowers are the size of zinnias, they wouldn't give them that advantage.
Sherry

Sherry,

There is a shorter variety of the striking orange called 'Fiesta del Sol' which is a dwarf form, growing about 30 inches tall. It was an All American Annual winner in 2000 and is easier to use in smaller gardens.... I just don't know if the bloom is expected to be smaller than Torch. If I ever come across the seed, I might give it a try.

~Mary

Seeds for 'Fiesta del Sol' are available at:
http://www.seedsandmore-store.com/catalog.php/seedsandmore/pd11544

Bob

Fiesta del Sol works just as well as the Torch variety in my garden. The flowers are not smaller, the plants are just shorter. I didn't get any Tithonia planted this year. My mistake. I'll rectify that next year.

Me too, Sandy!
Fiesta del sol is the variety I always plant, because the local Walmart carries the seeds. But I noticed that Bob's Mexican sunflowers are about as wide as the variegated frit on it. My Fiesta del Sol makes bigger flowers -
{{gwi:463239}}
FDS grows to about 5' tall here and flops over after a big rain, so I still have to tie it to the fence, which is no problem. It sure attracts the butterflies!
Sherry

Thank you, Bob, for the seed link. I was going to purchase from them but 1 small packet of seed was going to cost an additional 4.95 in s/h.; almost 8 dollars for a small packet of seed. Yikes! Not even certain I have room to grow them so think I'll wait and hope our Wal-Mart carries this seed next spring.

Thanks again for being so thoughtful.

~Mary

Miss Sherry, mine were "Torch", just runts due to the stress I placed them under. They were about five feet tall but wilted multiple times daily in the drought and my watering surely wasn't adequate!

Bob

I thought they looked different from mine, Bob.
You must have done a good enough job of watering them, because they sure are beautiful!
Sherry

Has anyone grown Tithonia Arcadian Blend from T&M? I bought some seeds to plant next year, and hope they are as attractive as the ones in the above pictures. James

Miss Sherry, the blooms on the Aztec Sun might be slightly smaller, but it's not something that's really noticeable. The plants seem overall less vigorous than the orange species. Very pretty though.

I originally bought the seeds from Dianes Seeds, grew only the Aztec Sun one year, and collected some of the seed, which have seeded true to color.

I grow all the Titonia together, although the orange plants are 2 or 3 feet taller than Aztec sun. The Fiesta del sol and Aztec sun would probably make a nice colorful combo.

Gorgeous flower and photos, thanks for sharing.

All the photos are beautiful. Tithonia is a very photogenic flower. : )

I've grown Torch and Fiesta del Sol. The volunteers I've been getting for the last few years may be a cross of those two I'm not sure. Some flowers are a little darker than others and it makes me wonder if a person could get a true red with some selective breeding or maybe that's already available.

My tithonia didn't do well this year, they came up later than normal, and the heat and drought has been hard on them. I have a few that haven't even bloomed yet and my butterflies are already starting to dwindle. I think I'll try winter sowing them next year to get an earlier start.

Lovely photos, i like tithonia alot, so easy to grow, but i prefer tithonia diversifloiaa because its a perennial for me.
Siam