Black-Eyed Susan

Black-Eyed Susan

Rudbeckia fulgida

(rud-BEK-ee-a) (FUL-jih-duh)

I decided to post this flower since it reminds me a little bit of the sun, which we need around here. After getting an extended snow and ice storm last night it is raining hard now with up to an inch expected. That’s after our weekend battle with sub zero temperatures.

Black-eyed Susans are a wonderful true perennial that gradually increases it size in the garden. It’s not fussy but needs a good amount of sun to do best.

Rear view

Black-eyed Susan

Rudbeckia hirta 'Sonora'

(rud-BEK-ee-a) (HER-tuh)

Rear view of a Black eyed Susan flower. Double Wordless Wednesday special.

Koi Fish

Cyprinus carpio

Toto Gold Dwarf Black-eyed Susan

Dwarf Black-eyed Susan

Rudbeckia hirta ‘Toto Gold’

(rud-BEK-ee-uh) (HER-tuh)

Cherry Brandy Black-eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan

Rudbeckia hirta 'Cherry Brandy'

(rud-BEK-ee-a) (HER-tuh)

Prairie Sun Black-eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta 'Prairie Sun'
(rud-BEK-ee-a) (HER-tuh)
Synonyms: Gloriosa Daisy

Black-eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan

Rudbeckia hirta 'Denver Daisy'

(rud-BEK-ee-a) (HER-tuh)

Black-eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta 'Sonora'
(rud-BEK-ee-a) (HER-tuh)

This seems like a new variety of Black-eyed Susan but may have been around for a while. I am thinking it is new since this is the first year I have seen it for sale at several places. I bought one for a container and it looked pretty mixed with some white petunia and yellow Lantana. One thing that is remarkable is that of the 20 or so flowers on my 6-inch pot none were the same. Each had their own striking markings around the center of the flower. Some also had larger brown cones in the middle. It is quite a feast for the eyes, Lucky it only grows to 18 to 24 inches, as the flowers look heavy compared to the stalks.

Black-eyed Susans add a nice touch to summer. The yellow flowers are produced in copious numbers and liven up the garden at a time when it needs it. There are more and more varieties coming out all the time. It is an easy perennial to grow and can colonize rough areas. It doesn't seem to need much in the way of maintenance or care. The spreading habit is good way to get free plants.

Sunpatiens

Sunpatiens
Impatiens 'Sunpatiens Spreading Salmon’
(im-PAY-shuns)
Synonyms: SAKIMP005

Here is a new and interesting plant. Hybridized from New Guinea Impatiens these flowers can take full sun. I must admit to doing something that I don’t normally do and that is buying plants without researching them. Gardening trends come and go all the time and I am usually loath to ride them. Later adaptation is okay because then the new thing has been proven. Resisting temptation at the nursery is something I really try to enforce.

Last week we got a large annual order that needed to be filled by this weekend. One of the items was two dozen New Guinea Impatiens for near a beautiful free form swimming pool. The nursery didn’t have any regular N.G.I.s we decided to change to Nonstop Begonias. Since the Sunpatiens were sitting there and they looked nice. One tray of six ended up on the truck. At the job I needed a few plants to under plant a large Hibiscus tree and these Sunpatiens looked great against the dark green Hibiscus foliage. This is where I lucked out as the ‘Spreading’ series of Sunpatiens is specifically for containers.

So for Sunpatiens there are three series each come with a good variety of colors. The Compact series is probably going to be the most viable in my opinion. Still getting up to 36 inches tall and quite wide having a slightly smaller habit is desirable to me. The Spreading series and Vigorous series look good for mass plantings. I used the extra couple of plants I had in the little perennial border by the driveway. I will report back later about their performance during the season.

Come join us at Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT. It is a great bunch of people and you get flowers from all over the world.


Indian Summer Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta 'Indian Summer'
(rud-BEK-ee-a) (HER-tuh)

Here is the Sunday bonus flower. I don’t remember who told me that this plant isn’t perennial but they were dead wrong. These are from a group of plants going on its fourth year. To me it has done just what a perennials should do, increase in flowering and size a little bit each year. This flower does well in containers too. It seems to be one of the longer blooming Rudbeckias out there. It blooms all season.

Gloriosa Daisy

Gloriosa Daisy
Rudbeckia hirta

Somebody grew this beauty from seed and gave it to me. So I am not sure what variety it is. It is a nice double flowered type that seems to be perennial since it has lasted several years now. Rudbeckia is becoming a “go-to” type of plant for late summer color. The colony at the Estate has grown so big that we are starting to pull out the seedlings. That is one thing you need to watch out for when cultivating large groups of perennials. If you continue to move the seedlings to new areas pretty soon they take over and it is nice when they bloom but the rest of the season is a little boring.

Rudbeckia culture is easy. They like full sun but can tolerate partial shade. The soil needs to be well drained and a bit on the dry side. Deadheading the spent flowers is a good idea as it prolongs the flowering time. They can be used in the naturalized garden or borders. Propagation is by division or seed, both are easy ways to get new plants.

Indian Summer Black-eyed Susan

Indian Summer Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta 'Indian Summer'
(rud-BEK-ee-a) (HER-tuh)

Happy Halloween to everyone celebrating it. There have been more scary movies on TV than ever and I have been watching a lot of them. The gardening season should be officially over tonight as there is a freeze alert for all of Connecticut. Luckily all of the tropical foliage plants have been put away and all the freeze means is cleaning out the containers and the blackened annuals.

Speaking of container plants, Today’s Flower Rudbeckia hirta 'Indian Summer' has been great in a pot. It started blooming in the spring and still had a lot of flowers when I left work on Friday. A little deadheading here and there was all it took to keep going. It didn’t even get regular watering. Most references listed it as an annual but it has come back in the spring for a couple of years now so I am officially designating it as a perennial. The flowers are lovely, really big and colorful.

Here comes November, ready or not. This quote kind of sums it up for me.

“No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, - November!”
Thomas Hood 1799-1845

For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Here is Sunday’s Bonus flower:


Garden Phlox
Phlox paniculata ‘Orange Perfection’
(floks) (pan-ick-yoo-LAY-tuh)

I am not sure who named this plant but it really isn’t that orange. It can get a lot of pink in it depending where in the garden it is located. The color issue aside it did well blooming and seemed to be fairly mildew resistant.

Summer Flowers

Variegated Garden Phlox
Phlox paniculata
(floks) (pan-ick-yoo-LAY-tuh)

Here are a couple of groups of summer flowers to brighten up Monday. Variegated Garden Phlox is a classy plant. It seems to grow a bit weaker than the regular Garden Phlox but certainly can hold its own in the border or en masse. The delicate pink and white shading of the flowers is always interesting and it seems to be fairly disease resistant.

Just about every one knows this next flower. It is a super reliable bloomer and always looks good this time of year. I just have to find a way to keep the deer away from them. Luckily they hadn’t descended on this patch yet.


Black-Eyed Susan
Rudbeckia fulgida
(rud-BEK-ee-a) (FUL-jih-duh)

Dwarf Shasta Daisy

Dwarf Shasta Daisy
Leucanthemum x superbum 'Snowcap'
(lew-KANTH-ih-mum) (soo-PER-bum)
Synonym: Chrysanthemum x superbum

This is a dwarf Shasta Daisy. It only got about 12 inches tall with the flowers. We planted about fifteen of them in three different gardens under a variety of conditions and it performed pretty well. It is cute as a button when blooming but it didn’t produce a lot of repeat blooms even though it was deadheaded at the proper time. Three of the plants got what looked like a fungus and were cut down completely. When the foliage reemerged it was fine. I can’t really recommend a perennial until it returns a few years but this one certainly has promise if it can make it through the winter especially for Shasta Daisy lovers you don’t like to stake or pinch their plants.

This next flower is one of my favorites and there was already a post on it this year.

Gloriosa Daisy
Rudbeckia hirta 'Autumn Colors'
(rud-BEK-ee-a)


The color combination is dramatic and each flower seems a little different. It also seems that the plants vary pretty wildly as to how much orange, yellow and red they have. It bloomed its heart out this year. Every time I looked at it seemed to have layers in both color and dimensions. It has faded and gotten a little beat up now but it was worth having it. Right now I am toying with the idea of cutting it back completely.

Great Rudbeckia

Great Rudbeckia
Rudbeckia maxima
(rud-BEK-ee-uh) (MAKS-ih-muh)
Synonyms: Great Coneflower, Dumbo's Ears
Skywatch Friday

It has been a while since I participated in Skywatch Friday. These shots were taken with Skywatch in mind. They are from the Perennial Garden at the NYBG. I took three pictures of the scene and decided to post all of them here. All three and especially the last could have had benefited from a larger Depth of Field. The last one is kind of a blooper but it is posted just to show the background. The building is the Enid Haupt Conservatory (click the About link for the history).


Visit Sky Watch Friday for more skies around the world.
SkyWatch Friday Home Page

Autumn Colors Gloriosa Daisy

Gloriosa Daisy
Rudbeckia hirta 'Autumn Colors'
(rud-BEK-ee-a)


Hybrid Daylily
Hemerocallis 'Bess Ross'

Ruby Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday

Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia
(rud-BEK-ee-a)

The name of this Rudbeckia has been lost but this is its second year and it is fabulous. The plants have doubled and are completely covered with flowers. The flower size is pretty big and the plant has grown to about 30 inches tall. It is slightly flopping but I just pruned off the stalks that were covering the Angelonia, Coral Bells and Rudbeckia ‘Autumn Sun’. Those stalks are already making new buds where they were cut.


This was in an area that the people had always just planted annuals. My strategy is to plant a layer of bulbs (done) and some perennials and annuals in the beds and it really worked with this Rudbeckia. Some of the other plants I have been using are Coral Bells (Heuchera 'Creme Brulee'), Liatris, and a lot of different Daylilies. This year I am trying some new plants like Summer King Foxglove, Rogerseria and some Artemesia. It is nice to have the luxury of filling in with annuals that way if something malfunctions you can just add more flowers.

I am glad this week is over. Tuesday I set a personal record of working at 5 different gardens in one day. They were spread out over two counties. Overall it was a rewarding day and I got a lot of loose ends tied up. I am, however, looking forward to the weekend.

This flower seemed a little shy. It was like it was covering its face.

Green Wizard Western Coneflower

Western Coneflower
Rudbeckia occidentalis 'Green Wizard'
(rud-BEK-ee-a) (ok-sih-den-TAY-liss)
Synonyms: Green Coneflower

This plant has to be considered a novelty. It is like a Coneflower without the flower part. It might look good intermingled with regular Coneflower but I am not too sure about that. This one was growing in a group of ‘Green Wizard’ by itself and it really didn’t do much for me. They grow to 36 inches tall and are hardy to USDA Zone 3.


Coneflower
Echinacea 'Tiki Torch'
(ek-in-AY-shee-a)

Since “Green Wizard’ doesn’t really look like a flower I thought I would post this picture today also. Another one in the long parade of Coneflower introductions ‘Tiki Torch’ does have an unusual and striking flower color. One thing I am finding with the D700 photos is they are a lot harder to crush down to blog size than the D70. Some of the color definitely washed out on this pic but you can still see that it is a nice orange.

We are headed up to Maine for the holiday. I am looking forward to getting away for a few days and seeing Karen’s people. Not sure what the internet situation is going to be so if you don’t see me around here you will know why.

Early Bird Gold Black-eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia fulgida 'Early Bird Gold'
(rud-BEK-ee-a) (FUL-jih-duh)

This flower was blooming at the nursery and it looked good. I started to grab some and then remember the person whose house I am working on right now doesn’t like Black-eyed Susans. That is okay because after reading up on this plant I will be planting some of them soon.

This Rudbeckia is a new genetic development that was discovered at Dupont Nurseries in Louisiana. It consistently bloomed up to two months earlier than 'Goldsturm' and often blooms two months after it. Since it is not day-length dependent it can bloom in the spring in some places. It grows to about 24 inches tall. The flower was the ‘standard’ color and the petals seemed just a little thinner than most cultivars of fulgida.


Rudbeckias are easy to grow in well drained soil. If you give them some organic matter and water they will grow better but it is not necessary. They can grow in dry and lean soils also. Black-eyed Susan are also easy to divide and often have seedlings if you are looking to increase your supply. A good plant for the border or naturalized areas of the garden.

Black Eyed Susan and Daisy

Black Eyed Susan and Daisy

You’ll notice both of these flower pictures are shot off center. It is something that I plan on working on next year. My photography teacher would love to hear that. Exposure is the other photography issue I plan on tackling in 2009. Since a lot of my pictures tend to be centered and underexposed it is going to be a little difficult to break out of that style but if you don’t try new things life can quickly become a little stale, for me anyways.


With composition it sometimes can be just taking an extra second before you click the shutter to make sure that the picture is framed in a pleasing way. Exposure is more of a technical issue and therefore a little more complicated issue to resolve. The challenge of doing something that is a little different is what keeps me taking pictures. That and being outside and studying the details of flowers and nature.

That was quite a storm that blew through here yesterday. About 12 inches of snow came down fairly fast and this morning some freezing drizzle is icing the snow pack. I am glad the snow blower is in good condition and I should have probably used it when the snow was a little fluffier. There are so many things that need to be done today that I am going to venture out even though the roads look a mess. Good thing we have a couple of Jeeps and a couple of 4WD trucks. The old Jeep is perfect for days like this, as it really doesn’t matter what happens to it.

I am sure most people know that today’s flowers are a Black eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) and Shasta Daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum). Two of my favorite perennials due to their dependability as far as hardiness and flowering go.

"Wasn't that a mighty storm
Wasn't that a mighty storm in the morning, well
Wasn't that a mighty storm, that blew all the people all away"

Black-eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan
Wordless Wednesday

Rudbeckia 'Tiger Eye Gold'

Rudbeckia 'Tiger Eye Gold'

The Rudbeckia has been stunning this year. That little dry spell we had seemed to do wonders for them. Rather than try and write a lot about Rudbeckia here is a link to the Rudbeckia Fact Sheet/National Garden Bureau. There is a great slideshow of different Rudbeckia species and cultivars. They are calling 2008 the Year of the Rudbeckia and I have to agree.

That website was really the only one that had information on ‘Tiger Eye Gold’. It is a new variety of Rudbeckia and the first one that is a F1 Hybrid.


I am out of here early for some pictures and also have a social engagement tonight.

This is a Black and White Dahlia picture I got at the Trial Garden last week.