How to Prepare Coreopsis for Winter

Bright and dainty yet boldly toothed, coreopsis flowers aka tickseed, are a lot prettier than their name suggests.

The blooms are so cheerful that the Sunshine State, Florida, designated all Coreopsis species, both annual and perennial, as the state wildflower.

Despite its significance in Florida, this member of the Asteraceae family grows wild throughout the eastern United States.

We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.

Many wild species and cultivars such as ‘Moonbeam,’ ‘Sun Up,’ and ‘Zagreg’ are suitable for cultivation in USDA Hardiness Zones 4-9, while newer, more colorful cultivars don’t survive those Zone 4 and 5 winters and are hardy in Zones 6-9.

They can also be grown as annuals. Many varieties reseed as easily as pansies, so if you let the flowers go to seed in the fall, you’ll have more bright blooms the following summer.

Check out our guide to growing coreopsis to learn more.

But what preparations are needed if you want to overwinter your perennial coreopsis? How can you prevent your plants from dying during a long, cold winter?

In this guide, we’ll tell all.

Here’s what I’ll cover:

In the case of many perennials, cutting them back for the winter months helps them come back with vigor the following spring.

But for this short-lived perennial, cutting them back at all can sometimes be a death knell. The plant benefits from having the stems and foliage left intact to act as insulation and help protect the crown from the cold.

So no matter your growing zone, ideally you should leave the stems and foliage in place after the plant dies all the way back. The foliage turns a