Dune Sunflower (Helianthus debilis)

Helianthus debilis, the Beach Sunflower or Dune Sunflower (the name I've always known it by), is a wonderful perennial groundcover here in my area. We see this sunflower growing alongside coastal highway A1A, as well as trailing along the sand dunes on the beach and growing in residential gardens. It acts as a stabilizer of sand dunes and helps prevent beach erosion. The Dune Sunflower is native to the United States and can be found along both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, where it tolerates a fair amount of salt spray. The name debilis in latin means weak, lame, or debilitated, which describes this plant's tendency to crawl along the ground. It's an extremely drought-tolerant plant, and the blooms attract butterflies.

I planted a couple of small ones in my garden in early April this year and they have since spread and multiplied tremendously, growing out over the edge of the bed and trying to trail through the lawn. This suits me fine, but unfortunately, my husband uses the string trimmer and whacks them back to the edge of the bed. I've read that Dune Sunflower may last only one season in climates where freezes occur, but even though we get occasional short freezes here, it always seems to survive and it's one of my favorite groundcovers because it blooms nearly year round.

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