Helenium

When we bought this Helenium it was said to be 'Moerheim Beauty', a famous rusty red variety. We got three plants to accompany an existing, older specimen but they all show more yellow than the original, are taller and larger flowered, and flower earlier. I checked the Royal Horticultural Society website, but the picture there is unclear as to the exact colour of Moerheim Beauty. Perhaps it's rather variable. Anyway, this is the first Helenium flower to open this year, and whatever variety it is I think it shows very well the modest, almost shy beauty that Heleniums can exhibit. The older, darker one will open a little later on, and to that quality will add a lovely and endearing understatement of flower. Both forms are beloved of the bees.