From High Country gardens in spring 2018
Added more in fall 2018
Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm' - gone now
From Newman's Nursery in summer 2019
Photos
Expectations:
Supposed to do very well in dry conditions, and a staple of flower gardens here.
I grew the fulgida variety in my old garden and it did better than 'Goldsturm", which got a black fungus. This oddly named variety was resistant. It's smaller, but still formed a giant stand in CT.
Experiences:
Boy, they struggled. They are not drought tolerant easy plants. They are limp unless very, very well watered daily. And not just limp from the heat of the day, they lie down, brown out and start to disappear. Struggling, very short, not at all like what I expected, having grown black-eyed Susans before. All declined.
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| Rudbeckia fulgida var. fulgida in my old garden! |
Experiences:
Boy, they struggled. They are not drought tolerant easy plants. They are limp unless very, very well watered daily. And not just limp from the heat of the day, they lie down, brown out and start to disappear. Struggling, very short, not at all like what I expected, having grown black-eyed Susans before. All declined.
I planted a whole bunch of Rudbeckia fulgida in the potting bench curve to make a prairie-inspired clump and worried that they would get too big.
They struggled and struggled. The plants hardly grew, reaching only 6 inches tall. They wilted quickly without enough water, even though they are supposed to do well in dry conditions.
They struggled and struggled. The plants hardly grew, reaching only 6 inches tall. They wilted quickly without enough water, even though they are supposed to do well in dry conditions.
In June 2019 the emerging petals were all eaten off by some insect, so no blooms. The plants were very short, about 6 inches tall. Not like what I grew in my old garden!
In 2020 I finally took them out and potted them up in non-porous pots to set around the gardens and they did bloom and add color. I left a clump in the ground that was doing a little better, tucked among other things. The clump bloomed in 2021, but remained very small and wasn't much to look at.
In summer 2019 I had added one 'Goldsturm' to the kitchen courtyard. Tall and stiffly structural, it had great presence but declined quickly. I tried it at the foot of the back fence where it declined precipitously. I potted it up and that kept it looking okay, but it did not come back in 2021 after winter.
Sheesh.
(Meanwhile the black-eyed Susans planted in Greg's garden were spectacular in their first year. What gives?)
