Thymophylla pentachaeta

This low-growing, tufted, herbaceous perennial is a short-lived plant that grows seven inches tall and wide. It re-seeds itself each year during the summer monsoon and re-grows each season with warm weather. The plant has long, threadlike, lacy, bright green foliage with leafless stalks. It produces bright clusters of yellow, daisy-like flowers on long, slender stems above the foliage. The plant blooms continuously throughout the spring and summer until the first frost, attracting bees, butterflies, and birds. It likes supplemental irrigation to remain lush and re-seed. The plant requires full sun and reflected heat and is hardy to ten degrees Fahrenheit. It prefers sandy, well-draining soil, but will grow and re-seed in any soil. Use it in butterfly and wildflower gardens, containers, raised planters, and rock gardens. The golden dyssodia can also be used for erosion control, on slopes, as an edging plant, and along sidewalks and patios. This showy groundcover is very easy to propagate from seeds. Allow the seed heads to dry out on the plants and then remove and collect the seed. This plant can also be planted in flats or pot packs and used for quick color. It is native to New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and northern Mexico, growing in desert areas and rocky plains at elevations of 2,500 to 4,500 feet.