If you want to cheer up a dreary corner of your garden, plant Sundrops.  When in bloom, a patch of several plants presents almost a blinding splash of yellow.

Begins blooming in late June.  The flowers are 1.5 inches or so in diameter, and close up in the evenings.  Flowers emerge from attractive red-coloured flower buds.

Needs to be in full sun, will get floppy and require staking in partial shade.  Drought tolerant in our expereience, easy to grow.

Problems - plants can require staking if too close together, even in full sun.  Spreads, but not so much I'd call it invasive - in good soil, in a couple of years you'll have many plants to move to another location or give away.  Deadheading can take a while, there's a lot of blooms. Every couple of years you need to thin out a some plants, otherwise forms a very thick patch.

I have seen O. fruiticosa is listed as a synonym.  Other reference books list O. fruiticosa and O. tetragona as separate species.

Hardy zone 3.

Height is 15 inches to 20 inches.  As mentioned above, in good soil will spread to form a patch 3 feet wide.

Glen's score:  9 of 10.

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