Clammyweed

Year-round

Give clammyweed full sun and loose, fast-draining soil, and it takes care of itself most of the year.

• Plant it somewhere it gets full sun most of the day. It does not need rich garden soil, sandy or gravelly ground and even disturbed patches work fine.
• Once it is established it handles dry spells well, but a deep watering during long stretches with no rain keeps it blooming.
• It flowers over a long stretch, generally late spring into fall, and pulls in bees and butterflies looking for nectar.
• It drops seed on its own each year, so leaving a few seed heads in place is the easiest way to get it back next season without replanting.
• It grows two to three feet tall with a loose, branching habit rather than a tidy mound.

Plant it a foot or two back from the front walk or porch. The leaves give off a strong smell when brushed or crushed, so most homeowners keep it out of high-traffic spots near the door.

Fall

Fall in Houston still brings warm weather, this is when clammyweed finishes blooming and sets seed for next year.

• Flowering continues into fall, often through October in the Houston area, as the plant keeps going until the first real cold snap.
• Late September through October is also a good window to direct-sow more seed if you want a fuller stand next year.
• Established plants need little to no extra water this time of year unless the fall stays unusually dry.
• Seed pods that form on spent flowers are how the plant comes back next year on its own.

If a tidy front bed matters more than free reseeding, cut back the spent stalks in the most visible spots while leaving a few elsewhere to drop seed for next year.

Winter

Houston winters are mild but do get occasional freezes, and that first hard freeze is what ends clammyweed's season.

• As an annual, the plant dies back at the first hard freeze, which typically lands sometime between December and February in the Houston area.
• Once it is dead and brown, there is no need to keep watering it.
• Seed already dropped in the soil sits through winter and naturally breaks dormancy from the cold, then comes up on its own in spring.
• No pruning or protection is needed to get it back next year, the seed already in the ground handles that on its own.

Cutting back the dead stalks once they turn brown keeps the bed looking maintained through winter. Leaving a few standing is fine for the plant either way, it is only a curb-appeal choice.

Spring

Spring in the Houston area is when to get clammyweed seed in the ground, it needs warm soil to come up.

• Direct-sow seed a quarter inch deep once the soil has warmed and the chance of a hard freeze has passed, usually by mid to late March in the Houston area.
• Keep the seedbed lightly moist until you see seedlings, then ease off watering.
• Seed dropped the previous fall or winter will usually be sprouting on its own around this time. No action needed beyond keeping the area weeded so seedlings are not crowded out.
• Growth is slow at first. Do not expect flowers yet, that comes once the weather turns consistently warm.

Summer

Houston summer heat and humidity is clammyweed's peak season, it blooms hardest here and needs little help.

• This is the main bloom window, expect flowers from about June into September in the Houston area.
• It is built for heat and handles the humid subtropical summer well. Water deeply only during extended dry, rainless stretches rather than on a fixed schedule.
• Flowers tend to open in the evening and can look wilted by mid-afternoon on the hottest days, that is normal, not a sign of stress.
• It is an active nectar source for bees and butterflies through the hottest weeks of summer, when many other bloomers slow down.