Rudbekias revisited

Chocolate Orange? Received seeds in trade but it doesn't look like catalog pictures. Pretty but I can't sell my surplus at market labeled as Chocolate Orange.

P

the two faces of Cherry Brandy

#1 face...not fully opened

CB's ugly stepsister? I think not....I likey

4-5 years ago I had the itch for all kinds of annual rudbeckias,tarded and bought many,many varieteis but this is the only one to come back year after year

just your plain jane wild r.hirta but these come back year after year in my mailbox bed. Will get a better picture at daylight. Usually have a beautiful blue scutellaria blooming amongst them but I moved it again last year for the second year in a row and it's pouting.....growing good,looks healthy but not flowering when it has in the past

better picture of r.hirta...after 2 days of heavy rains so they're saggin' a bit

I like the 'stepsister' too:) I was going to try CB again this year in a different location, but never got them sowed. Last year they were muddy looking and I didn't like them at all. Here's my first rud to open so far this season. I thought it was from seeds marked Autumn Colors. What do you think?

Oo,I like that one a lot. I use to have one that I loved better than any other. It was gold w/ chocolate center like your w/ heavy overlay of the choclate brown. I traded off all my seed and none have ever come in my yard again...figures...LOL

Isn't that the way it always goes? I only have a couple of these, but hope I have the presence of mind to collect seed from them.

I love rubeckias. I seeded 1/2 a dozen of several kinds. I still need to get them in the garden, but I do put a few in container combos as well.

I'm still planting out wintersown things, too. Problem is that it's mid to upper 90's here...so that means turning on the sprinkler. Ouch! the water bill is eating my wallet, lol!!

Nice pictures Patty & Bev. That could be "Autumn Colors" Bev. Seems like there are several color variations with "Autumn Colors" Ruds. Here's one of my "Autumn Colors" seedlings. Only odd thing is all 3 of my "Autumn Colors" plants are still very short. Perhaps they'll heighten up with some time.

Since you like the chocolate colored centers Patty, you would probably like a new one named Rudbeckia "Denver Daisy". Fairly large sized blooms and around 18-24 inches in height.

This one is pretty neat also. It's called "Irish Eyes". It's very similar to "Prairie Sun" except it has longer/more slender petals.

Here's "Prairie Sun", so you can see the differences between the two.

Hey Jon, long time, lol!! As usual, very nice...I really could get into that Irish Eyes...

We cross paths all the time on here, don't we Bev???? Have grown to like "Irish Eyes" now. At first I thought it was a little odd with the extra long petals, but it's grown on me and it's blooming/branching out quite well.

Jon,
I had Irish Eyes and Summer Sun once upon a time.

Some more of the CB are about to open...none of which look like GB.

Yeah, we do:)

I'm trying "Cherry Brandy" again this year. Wasn't wild about the color inconsistency I had on Cherry Brandy last year, but liked it for being "different".

I bought some Denver Daisies from Bluestone. They haven't bloomed yet, but they're about ready to. Has anybody grown them?

Jon, perhaps colder temps bring out more of a uniform red....or cold night temps. That seems to be the case with a lot of flowers. My Black Velvet Petunias turned colour (reddish purple) with the cold temps. The new flowers are black though.

Now see here, Rev...ya made me go look at Bluestone, lol!!

amorecuore, the pic of Denver Daisy you posted on 6/17 @ 9:33pm looks slightly different than the ones you posted in the plant files. Do they change over time?
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/185258/

My newly planted r. Denver Daisy looks like the one youi posted in the PF

You may be right Joanne. You should see what cooler weather does to the hybrid hibiscus blooms during the winter. The winter blooms have the most vivid coloration.

That June 17 photo is "Autumn Colors". I do recall "Denver Daisy" blooms doing a subtle color change last summer. There was much more brown around the center of the blooms initially and slightly less as the plant continued to bloom. I also recall "Denver Daisy" slowed down with blooms after about 4 or 5 weeks. I gave it a pretty heavy duty pruning back and within 3 weeks or so it responded with another excellent burst of color. When it stopped blooming I pulled it out in November so I'm not sure about it's likelihood of returning the following year.

The dilemma down here, in the fall, is what to do with all your perennials that will be going quiet for about 4 months. If your garden space is full, and you leave them all in, you have no available space for all the annual type flowers that you can only grow during the cooler winter months. I compromise by "scatter" planting and leaving most of the perennials in the middle of the flower beds. That way you can plant seasonal annuals around the perimeter and also work some in between the perennials that retain their foliage, but do not bloom during the winter months. LOL "Denver Daisy" was removed to create additional space for winter blooms.