Some Rudbeckia

Here's another also from seed a year ago. This one is a bit floppy as was the other one the first season in bloom. Almost like testing the flower weight :)

RUDBECKIA .. just the best .. AND .. hearty enough to grow in Northern Canada and come back twice as full as the year before :-)
I actually came into this forum for hints on what I am to do with the mature plants .. do I dig'em up and split'em .. so many folks want to partake of the plants.

Including a pic of one of my "Prairie Sun" .. they are stunning !!!

~M~

I am not at the point of dividing yet, but would like to hear from the more experience growers when is the best time to do this too.

The blooms of "Prairie Sun" do look rather large, and the plant does not look taller than a couple feet. Mine seem to get closer to 3 feet. I'd love to have some shorter ones too as they grow next to the sidewalk :)

Enya .. the blooms at times remind me of the size of a water lilly .. I am patiently waiting on my bigger more mature Rudbeckia to 'bloom out' it's just teasing me right now .. it's the "Black eyed Suzan" type .. beautiful colouring ..

I haven't a clue how to divide and separate .. hopefully someone with experience will help us out :-)

~M~

I divided echinaceas, pulmonarias and irises before so it's not that difficult, a bit traumatic maybe.
I dig a clump up, don't shake much soil out as I have clay and that breaks too many roots, but you have beautiful black soil so that may be easy. Then I see if I can separate the plant into pieces easily. Echinacea was too large and had too dense of a crown so separating by hand worked only with pulmonarias for me. If I can't separate by hand, I use a sharp knife to cut through the clump possibly avoiding damaging too much of it. Voila! You have pieces ready to plant. However, picking the right time to divide is crucial. Some plants are better divided in spring and some in the fall. This timing science I am not up on :(

I've never divided mine; they spread by self-seeding, hence the many variations.

jmorth, Is that why I have diff colored ones? BEV

and this one

and this

and why is this yellow attached to a red??

dragonfly, are those gaillardia? If you planted different varieties of the same plant and they are left to self-seed, oft they should show characteristics of each other in the subsequent self-seeded offspring as they probably were cross-pollinated by insects.
A pic in your honor:

jmorth, that's what I want - plant different ones next to each other and let them cross-pollinate :)
Need to build up the variety. I do have a limited space though so can see that at some point the plants get way too big for where they are. My boarder is 2 1/2 feet deep. So I am planning on creating a staggered row of Rudbeckias spaced enough for seedlings to pop up. I really want those variations, but not many can come from what I have so far :( I am hoping for a darker seedlings that I put out this year.

dragonfly, those gaillardia are very pretty--love the colors! I don't think I've seen any that color before. Looks like a cross between one of the yellow/orange ones and burgundy, maybe? Or just some cultivar I don't know about. Cool, though!

Plain ol' 'Goldsturm,' but I like the way it looks with Russian sage. :)

So .. I shouldn't worry about dividing? Only thing is .. last years Rudbeckia is JIMONGOUS and is overtaking the pernnial garden ..

~M~

Thankyou j. In your honor. BEV
The thing I cannot figure is this is the first year for all of them??????

My Goldstrum

Dragonfly,
I don't know anything about how you get into the plant breeding business (or whatever you call it). But I think you could make a fortune with that pink Rudbeckia that has just a touch of yellow on the ends of the petal. You could call it something like sunset in the carribean. I think that you'd sell a ton of it. It's gorgeous! I would pay a pretty penny to have that in my garden.

Thank you pgt. I will have to mark it and save seed. BEV

They are galardias. I put them in the wrong place.. My mistake sorry!! BEV

lol...but they are still the coolest gaillardias I've ever seen. :D

I would still buy them for my garden whether they are gaillardia or rudbeckia wouldn't matter to me. Actually, gaillardia may be even more appealing since they have a longer blooming season. I say, propagate the heck out of those things and market them.

You have got to be kidding. I wouldn't begin to know where to start!!!! BEV

I wasn't being smart. It just overwhelmed me that some one would be so interested. How would I do something like that please. &thankyou BEV

I'd start here http://inventors.about.com/cs/biopatents/a/aa_plant_patent.htm
to see what it means in practical terms :) If nothing else you can learn about plant patents.

I do agree that these particular gaillardia with yellow edge, if stable, is truely stunning and the name suggested catches the color imagery very well.

Enya, I thank you for your interest but I can't get a patent because there is so much to go through and too much money and even have to have a lawyer. I have invented something else too but can't go through with it. BUMMER!!!! This other thing I could sell the heck out of too. I will save the seed though. Thanks again BEV

Well, enjoy your beautiful creation!

When I initially joined here a couple of years ago, I had a sport of Purple Cone flower that had spoon shaped petals. I posted it and someone thought it might be worth checking if a plant company might buy it to propagate it. I had a couple of names, one east coast, one west coast...but I don't remember the names now. I think it was the west coast one that had expressed some interest..they suggested I cross it to obtain one of the just newly released colors with spoon shaped petals. My dreams of naming a plant ended up where it began, restricted to my garden.
Some of those spoons are just below center in pic.

That form did come out this year as 'All that jazz' in case you didn't see, but I remember yours first J.

Those are gaillardia up there BEV.

Wow. I'm blown away by all the self-sown variations possible jmorth. I've wondered what will happen since I have Magnus, Harvest Moon, White Swan and Rocky Top Tenn. coneflowers near each other. Hopefully the echinaceas will be as interesting as the Rudbeckias.

Beautiful photos from you all. Thanks!

A park nearby here has a few giant clumps of these. I do not have an ID yet, the leaves are more similar to triloba than fulgida, but it's close to 5' tall.

Very impressive!

Wow, that's one huge stand of rudbeckia!

en mass it looks like a golden cloud :) What a show!

jmorth, I love your photography. It's given me lots of good ideas. Cait

me too...I need more rudbeckias. LOL!

Here are some Ruds not Galards!!!! BEV

sorry clicked on the wrong pic!!!! Here is a white one. BEV

These pics following are probably about the last round of Rudbeckia uniquities for the season. There's only one or two yet to bloom.

A more traditional presentation.