Black Eyed Susans

[Rick]

We would like to have black eyed susans in our yard. Do we buy plants or do they come in seeds? When is the best time of year to plant. Thanks...

[Tom Randy]

You can get them as small plants at your local garden centers. Buy already started plants. They spread pretty quickly too, in the spring when they get about 3-4 inches high I transplant some from each patch to other areas and they take right off and bloom for me. I have them all over the place here. Every 2-3 years you may want to thin out the patches so they bloom better.

Spring or fall is the time to plant them.

Tom

[paghat]

There are many species of black-eyed susans, but the majority sold will be either Rudbeckia fulgida, which is an annual, or R. hirta, which is a long-lived perennial, & I think the latter is more to be recommended.

If you want the annuals, from seed would be preferable. The perennial also grows easily from seed, but you can get a head start on them planting them from potted starts or gallon clumps already mature. The most popular cloned cultivar of R. hirta is "Goldsturm" which does not grow true from seed & is best purchased as a mature gallon sized. If you settle for seeds that are labeled "Goldsturm," they'll grow into something "close enough to get by" but probably taller, thinner, &amp less compact. Most other R. hirta varieties grow true from seeds.

I grow R. hirta with Echinacea purpurea which have the same soil & watering needs & the same kind of tall reflexed flowers, but purply pink instead of bright yellow. Also there's a white Echinacea. The white, purple, & bright yellow flowers last all summer & much of autumn in a mixed border in full sun.

Here's a page about "Goldsturm" Black-eyed Susan:

's a semi-dwarf echinacea that looks great with rudbeckia: here's the white echinacea: the ratgirl

[paghat]

Well now, there's a perfect example of why not to post common names only. I automatically assumed Rudbeckia, not Thunbergia!

-paghat the ratgirl

[Tyra Trevellyn]

paghat: The info is good, but you've switched the species names: 'Goldsturm' is a cultivar of Rudbeckia fulgida (a reliable perennial), known sometimes as Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantiii. Rudbeckia hirta is hardy to Zone 5 but tends to behave more like a biennial or short-lived perennial (and can be grown as an annual). Cultivar names are, among others, 'Marmalade' and 'Irish Eyes.'

Best, Tyra nNJ usa z7a

[Jim W]

Hear hear! Good thing I double checked then!-).. For Rudbeckia's I'd recommend plants sown when the ground has warmed up or in the late summer autumn (but before frosts) // Jim

[Pelvis Popcan]

For most people where I live, "Black Eyed Susan" means Rudbeckia Goldsturm.

These only propagate through cuttings. So, the best way to grow them is to buy them potted from your local nursery. A few plants will quickly multiply over the years. They can be planted from pots into the ground any time of the spring or summer.

There *are* seed packets available that say "Rudbeckia Goldsturm" on them, but what these are is a strain. They are Goldsturms hybridized with other species so that viable seeds are produced, so what you get are mixed Goldsturm hybrids. In my experience, these plants are usually pretty small and don't flower that much the first year. The flowers themselves *resemble* Goldsturms, but are not the same thing.

Annual vanities such as "Glorissa Daisy" were first bred in the 1950's by Burpee seed. They grow 2-3 feet tall and have lots of nice great big yellow flowers. If you like to plant seed, I recommend Glorissa Daisy.

"Rick" wrote:

[GrampysGurl]

That was my immediate thought as well. Colleen zone 5 Connecticut

[Chris Owens]

They come as either; and you plant either of them in the spring or fall.

Chris Owens

[TOM KAN PA]

The Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) has been the official Maryland flower since 1918 when it was designated the "Floral Emblem" of Maryland by the General Assembly (Chapter 458, Acts of 1918; Code State Government Article, sec. 13-305).

In his Species Plantarum (1753), the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus described and named the flower Rudbeckia after Olav Rudbeck and his son, both professors at the University of Uppsala, and hirta from the Latin meaning "rough hairy".

Black-Eyed Susans are perennial daisies or coneflowers, members of the sunflower family (Asteraceae). The flower heads measure 2 to 3 inches in diameter with yellow rays circling a dark-brown, spherical center. Commonly found in fields and on roadsides, they bloom between May and August, reaching 2 to 3 feet in height. They are native to the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains.

[Cereoid-UR12-]

Even though the "Black Eyed Susan" has long been associated with the races at Pimlico and is the state flower of Maryland, it is not native to Maryland. It is native farther west but has migrated eastward along the railroad lines and into other open places.

Still it is not as bad a choice for state flower as those for some other the other states.

Georgia, Iowa, New York and North Dakota have all chose the rose as their state flower. At least all of them but New York have chosen native Rosa species.

You would have thought that Georgia would have chosen the peach blossom but it isn't so.