All Gold Things Must Pass

But, not yet for the Susans!

The Susans are still going strong.

The wet summer and cooler temperatures during July have kept them perky and thriving. Rudbeckia hirta is a plant that can tolerate dry conditions, but they do much better in a moist, well draining soil....The nemesis of plants here at Clay and Limestone! I've written about that here.

The Susans' Bed is top dressed with leaf mold, compost and mulch most years...

They still look early summer fresh...We've had a good summer.

There are several with double petals
...Maybe I ought to take a page from Frances' plant propagation program for specific traits and save the seeds of the doubles. She's written a great post on her gravel grown plants~~go here for the story. The doubles are kind of cute....Although, it's probably an odd virus and not some genetic sport!

You might not see many butterflies on the Susans. That's a duskywing (?) in the above photo.

The Silvery Checkerspot and the ever present skippers are the most frequent visitors. Bees do stop by occasionally.

The real payoff for growing Susans is the mass of gold flowers and the birds that visit for seed in the fall. Speaking of fall; some of the flowers are beginning to fade. Susans are a bright yellow (or screaming yellow as my friend Layanee refers to it). As they age they begin to turn a deeper gold~~

Then they quickly brown. The petals dry up and the seeds ripen. In the past, I've deadhead them to encourage more flower growth. I've not had outstanding luck with that and now just let them go to seed....for more plants and for bird food. They aren't the preferred food of Goldfinches, but, they will eat the seeds once the coneflower heads are empty!

If you want to grow Susans successfully the best time to sow seeds is in the fall. You can let always them go to seed and fall to the ground. Or, you can collect seeds and plant them where you want them to grow....in well draining soil or they will rot. Once the seed heads fall apart when you brush your hands over the cone...the seeds are ready. Collect and scatter them in a bare spot in the garden. They need a few days of moisture and will germinate in about 1 to 2 weeks. They do need some cold to grow~ if you are growing them in the deeper south...you might try stratifying the seeds before planting them or planting container grown plants. Bt the way, rudbeckia will happily grow in containers and you can leave them in all year long. Well, thats true in my zone 7 garden;)

Garden ornament and the Susans

The Susans are getting thinned this year! I do adore the mass planting.But, it's time to thin or they will over run the salvia, liatris, coneflower, baptisia, rosemary, sedges, sedums, coreopsis, stokesia, grasses, veronicastrum, monarda, zinnias and other plants that are actually growing in the Sunny Susans bed! If you live nearby I will gladly share them with you. Let me know if you want seeds! Believe me, there are plenty to go around! They ought to be a hardy genetic stock!


Just in case you're tired of yellow...

I hope these last days of summer are filled with golden flowers and plenty of time in the garden.

Gail