Hooker’s inula
Inulas have a bit of an image problem. It is possibly because their common name of fleabane is hardly poetic, though it is derived from their use to dissuade fleas rather than encourage them. The range of colours is a bit limited too, with brassy yellow, verging on the ‘mustardy’, about all you can get. Some are rather invasive and some are large and ungainly and none bloom for a terribly long time. But they are stars of summer and their blooms, with ray and disc florets of a similar shade are pretty and shaggy. Their finest moment is arguably when they are in bud, with the flowers ornamented with intricate scales, except, from my experience and limited range, I. magnifica.
Inula hookeri is a bit of a gem. It is neat in habit, flowering at about 60cm, and slowly makes a broad clump. It is said to be more vigorous in damp soil and mine is in a spot that is damp in winter but can be dry in summer – though not this year! It is best in sun but will tolerate some shade and my plant gets shade in the afternoon. What has struck me this year is how popular it is with butterflies. They will fly past buddleias to get to the flowers and they jostle with the bees for their space on the flat disc in the centre. The mass of tiny florets keeps them busy for several minutes before they fly off, thinking the adjacent flower is tastier.
This is a no-nonsense perennial, hardy and easy to please. It does not need staking (here) and does not appear to have any serious pests though snails really made a meal of the new shoots as they appeared. But it grew past this and snails have ravaged everything this year. We have quite a healthy number of thrushes in the garden and there are stones everywhere they can use as their ‘anvils’ so I really don’t know why the thrushes are not the size of wood pigeons!
My apologies to early observers who caught another ‘literal’ when spellcheck changed inula in the title to inure!
The Biking Gardener 
I love Innula hookeri too, although mine is getting totally subsumed with a very vigorous spreading and much taller Michaelmus Daisy, impossible to dig out! A couple of my best photos are of butterflies on Innulas. Every year there is a caterpillar (I think) which sets up residence on the upper leaves and chomps them to bits, however I try to keep in mind that it is probably one of the many varieties which later adorns them. I would be interested if similar happens to yours in future years and if you can manage to id it!
I have never noticed anything chomping on the foliage but there is time! It seems a good year for ‘chomping things’ but the foliage seems fine so far. It seems a great year for moths too. It may be because I have left some long grass and that may be feeding the larvae. We seem to have lots of fluttering, grey, day-flying moths that are feasting on the lavender and hyssop. I can’t work out what they are – they almost hover – but are not as showy or ‘hovery’ as hawk moths – and their constantly moving wings mean I can’t really see their markings! But they are obviously very happy.
I should have said, “in future years”. It’s always in early spring and the larvae is rolled up in the top leaves.
Great plants, especially I. hookeri.