With their bright yellow to orange flowers and black centers, Rudbeckias add a pop of colour to any garden. These friendly flowers bloom from summer to autumn and are a hit with pollinators like bees and butterflies. Easy to care for and low maintenance, the perfect addition to your garden beds, borders, and wildflower meadows.
1. When to Plant
Rudbeckias are resilient seeds, flourishing in both early spring and autumn in temperate climates. For optimal germination, plant when the soil temperature reaches a warm 10 – 25°C.
2. Where to Plant
Choose a sunny location with well-drained soil for your Rudbeckias. They can endure drought but avoid soggy ground. In hot, humid climates, ensure ample air circulation to prevent powdery mildew development.
3. Sowing Directly in the Garden
Scatter the seeds, gently pressing them into the soil or covering with a light layer. Keep the seedbed consistently moist. As seedlings grow, space them 10 to 25 cm apart for dwarfs and annuals, or 35 to 60 cm apart for perennials. Water thoroughly until well-rooted.
4. Sowing Seed Indoors
Follow the seed packet instructions for planting depth, growing medium, and watering. Provide abundant light for emerging seedlings on a sunny windowsill or beneath fluorescent plant lights. Acclimate them to outdoor conditions before planting.
5. Growing Tips
- Extend the bloom period by deadheading at the base or cutting back after flowering for a second surge in autumn.
- Attract birds by leaving some flower heads for seeding, yielding new sprouts in the following spring.
- Manage overcrowding by removing or transplanting excess self-seeded plants.
- Propagate perennial Rudbeckias through division in early spring or autumn, ensuring each division has roots.
- Prevent powdery mildew by maintaining adequate plant spacing and watering at soil level.
Varieties
Rudbeckia Goldilocks
Rudbeckia Goldilocks has cheerful yellow petaled blooms that sit atop tall wirey, fuzzy stems surrounding dark chocolate burgundy centers. This is the best for showiness of all the ‘Black Eyed Susan’s’, with very fancy doubled, twisting and curled golden petals.
They will amuse and entertain you as they sway in the wind all season long. When the strong stem flowers are harvested constantly, new blooms will produce well until the last frost of the season.
Incredibly easy to maintain, these flowers will bring endless joy and summer vibrancy to any garden bed, border or window sill vase. A short-lived perennial with good drought tolerance.
Rudbeckia Gloriosa Daisies
Rudbeckia Gloriosa Daisies are tall bushy perennial plants producing large daisy-like flowers in a mixture of single and bi-colours including; yellow, mahogany, bronze and gold with black cone shaped centers.
Great for cut flowers, garden beds and borders and low maintenance once established, tolerant of dry and poor soil conditions.
They produces lots of flowers over a long season and are ideal for attracting bees and butterflies to the garden.
Flower arrangers will find that the attractive blooms of this variety are produced on tall, strong stems that last for a long time in water.