Tag: sun loving

How to Grow the Beautiful Rudbeckia

Growing the rudbeckia “Rising Sun” flowering perennial pollinator plant.

While dashing through the local nursery, I spotted this pretty yellow flowering plant. It was a Rudbeckia called “Rising Sun”. It had a couple of flowers and a few more buds. It went into my new little flower garden.

In a Nutshell

Rudbeckia is a perennial. It should be dug up and divided, once it is large, to propagate. It is easy to grow, after making sure it has plenty of water in the beginning. Grow in full sun, deadhead old flowers, and enjoy watching bees visit the flowers.

When planting, I added some bone meal and fish fertilizer along with compost to the hole. I do that generally for all transplants. I planted the new garden in May, so it was hot, but not horrible. I made sure to water the new plants every morning because we were getting no rain back then. I added mulch to help.

Flowering Rudbeckia plant
Rudbeckia plant

Because I went out every morning to water, it gave me the opportunity to view changes. It seemed to bloom with at least one new big yellow bloom each day! The plant grew and bloomed like mad, and is now just gorgeous.

Bees Love Rudbeckia

I was hoping to attract bees and butterflies and this plant is perfect. Each morning I see little bees crawling around the flowers. One day I saw a bee sleeping on one of the petals! He was resting or something because he was not moving, but he was not dead. On the photo above you can see a bee on one of the big flower’s petals.

Deadheading and Propagation

Rudbeckia needs to be deadheaded. As soon as I read this, I went out and cut off the old blooms. I brought them inside to see if I could get some seeds from the center when they dry fully. Deadheading helps the plant put energy into creating new blooms and not caring for the old, wilting ones. Many flowering plants benefit from this.

My Rudbeckia even survived us having a new roof installed. If you have ever gone through roof replacement, you know what a mess it makes. I was so worried about my garden and yard, but most things came through okay.

Rudbeckia spreads by rhizomes underground. In other words, when it gets too full, it can be dug up and split into two or more plants. This is one way to propagate. Every 4-5 years or so, or when the plant is really full and not growing as many flowers, it means it needs to be divided. This is similar to peonies. I remember doing just that to divide my beautiful peonies when I grew them in New Hampshire.

Also, apparently the rudbeckia can grow from seed. Each flower will drop little seeds from that center brown “eye”. So the flowers I cut will be saved to see if I can get seeds.

I would love to link to this info, but all the sites I visited had WAY too many ads! I won’t send my readers to them, but if you search for this info, you will find it elsewhere.

I’ve never grown the rudbeckia before, but I truly love it. At some point I will buy more of them to put into the landscape. This plant came from Lindley’s Nursery in New Smyrna Beach.

Keep reading my gardening stories…

My Perennial Choices to Plant This Fall

Convallaria majalis cv. Plena
Image via Wikipedia - Lily of the Valley - for Shade

Besides Spring, the end of summer is a great time to plant and divide perennials. The hot days of summer are not the time to consider adding a garden or moving plants around. In fact, when planting a new perennial shrub or annual, it’s best to do so on a cool, cloudy day. Or plant them in the evening when they have the night to adjust to their new spot.

I was thinking about this when I disregarded my own advice and uprooted a little azalea I found among the overgrown front border at my new home. Considering where the poor thing was, I felt that it had a better chance in a new spot in the sun by the driveway. So I planted it mid-day but gave it lots of water and covered the top with leaf mold.

Digging holes for planting up here in the Granite State (New Hampshire) means dealing with rocks. Lots of rocks. In fact it can take me up to 10 minutes to dig a decent size hole for a quart size root ball because I have to pull all the rocks out of the hole and usually cut some roots that are criss-crossing the opening.

Next I add some good dirt. It can come from a store or from your compost or from another section of your yard. And I add bonemeal to strengthen the roots. Always mix it in well with the dirt in the hole. And then water – really well. Soaking the entire root system is important when first planting something. In fact, if you bought a plant and the pot is dried out, give it lots of water before transplanting.

Since I am starting from scratch at my place, I need to find some shade loving perennials for the front under a line of trees along the road. I also have lots of sun in the back so a few sun-loving perennials will go back there to grow among my vegetable garden.

This is what I will shop for this Fall and next Spring:
Shade plants – Astilbe, Hostas, Lily of the Valley and Bleeding Heart.

Sun plants – Coneflowers, Monarda (red flowers for hummingbirds), Peonies and Hydrangeas.

These may be hard to find at this time of year and most likely they won’t be looking too good if they are dormant and without blooms, but as long as they look healthy they will come back next spring. Depending on the cost, I hope to add all these favorites to my zone 5 landscape before winter. Pictures to come!

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