This plant is not for small spaces, it grows from a cutting to 10 ft in a matter of 4 months. Bees and butterflies love it, and the fragrance of the flowers reminds of honey.
The twigs and branches are very brittle and the lower leaves look ragged with time. Still,
having an abundance of cheerful daisy like flowers for your vase throughout summer and fall makes it
worth having this plant in the yard.

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This Tithonia gets huge in coastal Florida. If not knocked back by cold weather, plants can be over 15ft tall and wide. They are not woody shrubs, though. The stems are brittle and break easily in high winds. They grow easily from cuttings as well as seeding themselves. An excellent plant for a quick privacy screen, because it does grow fast. But don't plant it if you want something small and delicate. Mine bloom twice a year, in April and again in November. Plants stay a nicer shape if cut back after each bloom cycle.

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"Tithonia diversifolia is a species of flowering plant in the Asteraceae family that is commonly known as the tree marigold, Mexican tournesol, Mexican sunflower, Japanese sunflower or Nitobe chrysanthemum. It is native to eastern Mexico and Central America but has a nearly pantropical distribution as an introduced species. Depending on the area they may be either annual or perennial.

Tithonia diversifolia is 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft) in height with upright and sometimes ligneous stalks in the form of woody shrubs. The large, showy flowers are yellow to orange colored and 5–15 cms. wide and 10–30 cms. long. Leaves are sub-ovate, serrate, acute, 10 to 40 cms. long, simply or mostly 3-7 lobed, somewhat glandular, and slightly grayish beneath. The seeds are achenes, 4-angled, and 5mm long. The seeds are spread by wind."

Taken from wikipedia's page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...

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