Rudbeckia hirta grows wild on Greenhorn Mountain and all through the mountains in Colorado. With its dark center and bright gold petals it’s a lovely wildflower, and I was a bit surprised to see it blooming so profusely despite our persistent drought this summer.
The picture above is Rudbeckia hirta growing near Wachob’s trail on Greenhorn Mountain. It was about 18″ tall. The picture below is from Reta’s garden, where Rudbeckia hirta have seeded into an area 6′ wide and long. These have had irrigation and they’re about twice the size of the ones in the wild. She started with a couple of plants from the strain called ‘Autumn Colors’ and now she has a black-eyed Susan extravaganza!
Here is a picture of one that seeded into the concrete by our old barn. This is its second summer in that spot. What a tough plant!
And finally, here is the Denver Daisy, a Plant Select winner from 2009. This one is growing in the whisky barrel by the shop. We have others in the garden, too, because I love it! We gave this away as our free plant this year. We hope it does well for all of you.
I have questions about this plant. Is it a perennial, a biennial, or an annual? It has acted like all three in my garden in various years and areas. Is it really drought tolerant? What does Rudbeckia hirta want?? I look around here and think, it wants to grow in a crack in the concrete! Stop babying it! Maybe I’ll take my own advice…
