Description of the rudbeckia plant, agrotechnology of planting and care in a personal plot, advice on reproduction, how to deal with diseases and pests during cultivation, curious notes, species and varieties.
Rudbeckia (Rudbeckia) belongs to the numerous Asteraceae family, found under the name Compositae. The genus united in itself the herbaceous representatives of the green world of the planet, having a perennial, two-year or one-year period of growth. Today, there are almost forty species of rudbeck. The territories of the continent of North America, where plants prefer the expanses of the prairies, are recognized as the native area of their natural distribution. There are varieties that are recognized as decorative and are usually cultivated in European and African countries. It happens that they run wild and then meet in fields and meadows.
| Family name | Astral or Compositae |
| Growing period | Long-term, two-year or one-year |
| Vegetation form | Herbaceous |
| Breeds | Seeds or vegetatively (division of rhizomes) for perennials, seed (excluding terry varieties) for annuals |
| Open ground transplant terms | Seedlings are planted at the end of May |
| Landing rules | Not closer than 30-40 cm from each other |
| Priming | Well-drained, nutritious, cultivated |
| Soil acidity values, pH | 6, 5-7 (normal) |
| Illumination level | Open location, well lit by the sun |
| Humidity level | Watering regularly, in hot periods - frequent, preferably in the morning and evening |
| Special care rules | When growing tall forms, support is needed, top dressing is recommended |
| Height options | 0.5-3 m |
| Flowering period | From June to frost |
| Type of inflorescences or flowers | Baskets of marginal and tubular flowers |
| Color of flowers | Marginal any shades of yellow, tubular - yellow, purple-black or brown |
| Fruit type | Oblong achene |
| Fruit color | Grayish brown |
| The timing of fruit ripening | From september |
| Decorative period | Summer-autumn |
| Application in landscape design | In flower beds and on lawns, singly and in groups, as a background for a mixborder |
| USDA zone | 4–8 |
The representative of the flora received its scientific name thanks to the famous plant taxonomy Karl Linnaeus (1707-1778), who decided to immortalize the names of his colleagues from Sweden - the father of Olof Rudbek the elder (1630-1702) and his son Olof Rudbek the younger (1660-1740). It was the last scientist who was a friend and mentor of Linnaeus himself when he studied at the famous University of Uppsala. But at the same time, the plant has many synonymous nicknames. On the territory of its natural distribution, there is the name "Black-eyed Suzanne" because of the dark-colored core of the flower, in England the plant is called "Sun Hat" due to the shape of the inflorescences and the color of the petals.
Rudbeckia stems are simple or branched. Their height varies within 0.5–3 m. They are painted in a rich green color, and in the upper part there is a pubescence of hard hairs. The leaves are arranged in opposite order - opposite each other. Leaf plates of "black-eyed Suzanne" can measure in the range from 5 cm to a quarter of a meter. The outlines are solid or there is a pinnate separation, often taking even a pinnately dissected form. The contours of the leaves are elliptical or ovoid. In the lower part of the stems, the leaves are attached to them by means of elongated petioles, but approaching the top, the petioles gradually decrease and the leaves become sessile. The color of the deciduous mass is a rich dark emerald hue. At the same time, longitudinal venation can be seen on the surface.
The flowering of rudbeckia will become a bright accent in any flower garden, since the color of the petals in the inflorescence can take on a wide variety of shades of yellow color, sometimes even becoming reddish. Flowers begin to open at the "sun hat" from the second half of June, this process stretches to the very frost. In this case, the tops of the stems are lengthened, becoming peduncles. Their ends are crowned with flowers. Inflorescences are baskets of various sizes, since the diameter parameter directly depends on the species and variety. It can be minimally measured from 3 cm, often reaching 15. The receptacle has a convex outline, but gradually acquires a cylindrical shape. Bracts of rudbeckia with pointed tops, scarious. The marginal flowers in the inflorescence (ligulate) are sterile, but they provide amber shades to the flower. In the central part, the flowers are tubular and bisexual. Their color can vary from yellow to purple-black or brown.
While the flowers are open, then with such plantings a tart aroma is clearly heard, which is attractive not only for bees, but also for other insects pollinating the plant. Rudbeckia flowers do not open all at once, but gradually replace each other, which explains the feeling of prolonged flowering. After pollination passes, the fruits begin to ripen, which are elongated achenes, in some cases having a small crown. The seeds filling the fruit have a ribbed surface, shiny and grayish-brown tint. Their germination capacity lasts for 2-3 years.
The plant does not differ in capriciousness and demanding care, but it becomes an adornment of any garden from summer days to late autumn.
Agrotechnics of planting and caring for rudbeckia in the open field
- Landing place it is recommended to choose well-lit bushes of "black-eyed Suzanne", as shading will negatively affect the flowering process. It is recommended to plant tall species in flowerbeds protected from gusts of wind. The proximity of groundwater is undesirable.
- Soil for rudbeckia should be well-drained, permeable to moisture, saturated with nutrients, since on a poor substrate you should not expect a lush flowering. If the soil is clayey on the site, then it is recommended to dig it up and mix it with river sand. Before planting, it is necessary to mix compost into any substrate. The acidity of the soil is preferable to normal - pH 6, 5–7. When the soil is acidic on the site, it is deoxidized - mixed with lime or dolomite flour.
- Planting rudbeckia. Seedlings are planted on a prepared flower bed at the end of May days, when it is clear that recurrent frosts will not return. Planting holes should be dug at a distance of 30-40 cm. If the weather is warm, the seedlings will adapt quickly and without losses, but when the weather has become cool (especially at night), it is worth providing shelter using agrofibre (for example, agrospan or spunbond) and then the plants will not die. If the seedlings of rudbeckia have taken root, then the shelter can not be used, since they will be able to calmly tolerate a drop in temperature to zero. Growing perennial varieties of "black-eyed Suzanne" should not forget that in one place without rejuvenation, they can grow successfully for 3-5 years. After the planting has been carried out, it is recommended to perform mulching - pour a mulching layer, which will reach 8 cm in thickness. Compost can act as mulch.
- Watering when caring for rudbeckia, it is necessary to regularly, so that there is no leaf burn, the soil is moistened in the morning and evening hours. When the weather is hot and dry for a long time, such watering is necessary every day.
- General advice on care. After each moistening of the substrate next to the rudbeckia bushes, it is recommended to gently loosen it. Such loosening is often combined with weeding weed. When growing tall varieties or species, when planting next to it, a support (metal or wooden peg) is dug in, to which the shoots will be tied as they grow. After the inflorescences begin to fade, they are cut off with a part of the flowering stem, until the first healthy leaf.
- Fertilizers when cultivating rudbeckia, it must be introduced for normal development and subsequent lush flowering. So at the beginning of March, feeding is required with a nutrient solution prepared on the basis of potassium sulfate, nitrophoska and Agricola-7, which are stirred in a tablespoon in a 1012 liter bucket of water. For every 1 m2, three liters of such a mixture must be used. When two weeks have passed, feeding is carried out a second time, using the same solution.
- Transfer when cultivating "black-eyed Suzanne" is required only for perennial varieties. Since such bushes can grow in one place for up to five years, dense growth inevitably appears next to them, contributing to the clogging of the flower bed. To prevent this from happening, it will take every 3-4 years to perform division and subsequent seating of the divisions. For this, the first spring days are selected or when the flowering process is completed. This process is described in the section "Propagation of rudbeckia by dividing the rhizome".
- Seed collection rudbeckia are performed so that it is possible to sow them again in the spring, since annual species cannot reproduce in any other way. This is usually done on autumn days. Achenes are harvested only when they are completely dry and have a grayish light brown tint. Collecting the fruits of the "sun hat" is carried out exclusively from the central part of the bush, using gardening gloves. The collected material is scattered on a clean sheet and dried in a well-ventilated room. After drying, the seeds are poured into paper bags and used for subsequent propagation.
- Wintering mainly occurs in perennial species of rudbeckia. For this, it is recommended with the arrival of autumn, when the flowering and ripening of the fruits is completed, to perform the following preparatory robots. First of all, the entire above-ground part of the bush is cut off, and the entire area is covered with a mulch layer with a thickness of 5-7 cm, for this they use dry grass or foliage, humus or spruce branches. When the snow cover melts, such a shelter must be removed so that the plants do not dry out.
- The use of rudbeckia in landscape design. Because of its vibrant colors, the sun hat plant will always decorate any area in a garden or flower bed. Since flowering directly depends on the species and variety, and falls in the summer or autumn, then by planting bushes with different characteristics nearby, you can enjoy a very long flowering. These plants may look great alone, but group plantings are the best choice. Species with high stems can be planted in the background of lawns and flower beds, low ones are suitable for the formation of bright flower spots in a flower bed.
Read also tips for planting and caring for your daisy outdoors.
Reproduction of rudbeckia by dividing the root and seedlings, growing from seeds
If we talk about the reproduction of perennial species and their varieties, then here you can use both the seed and the vegetative method (separation of the rhizome), annual varieties and their varieties (the only exception are terry forms) it is possible to propagate only by seeds. If we talk about seed reproduction, then you can sow seeds directly into the ground or grow seedlings.
Reproduction of rudbeckia by seeds
This method works well for both perennial and annual or biennial species. Seed material is placed on a previously prepared flower bed after the second decade of June. In the grooves or holes, the seeds should be at a distance of at least 15 cm. On top of the crops, sprinkle with a thin layer of the same substrate. After that, abundant watering is required, it is advisable to use a watering can with a sprinkler nozzle so as not to wash the sown seeds from the soil. Already by the arrival of autumn, in the beds it will be possible to see leafy rosettes of small sizes, which will be transformed into dense bushes by the next growing season. They will bloom a little earlier than those seedlings of rudbeckia, when sowing was carried out in the spring.
Important
Do not forget that rudbeckia can perfectly reproduce by self-seeding. It is this aspect, if there are already adult specimens of "sun hats" on the site, that allows you not to waste efforts, but simply to thin out the seedlings that appeared in the spring.
Reproduction of rudbeckia seedlings
This method also applies to both perennial and annual species. Sowing in seedling boxes should be carried out in the last week of March or at the very beginning of April. The soil is loose and nutritious, you can take a special substrate for seedlings or mix peat with river sand in equal volumes. Seed material is distributed over the soil surface, but in such a way that the distance between the seeds is about 15 cm. On top of them you need to sprinkle them with a thin layer of the same soil and only spray a little from a fine spray with water.
The seedling container is covered on top with a plastic transparent film or a piece of glass is placed on top. The box should be placed in a place where the heat indicators will be in the range of 20-22 degrees. Until the shoots of rudbeckia appear, caring for the crops includes watering when the soil dries out, daily airing and removing condensate from the shelter. After just 7-14 days, you can see the first shoots.
Only when a pair of true leaves unfolds at the seedlings of the "black-eyed Suzanne", can you practice picking so that the plants do not interfere with each other's development. They can be transplanted either into separate pots or back into the seedling box by increasing the distance between the seedlings. When the engraftment is over, you can start hardening the rudbeckia seedlings, for this they are exposed to the open air every day, starting at 10 minutes and gradually bringing this time to around the clock. When the last days of May come, the seedlings can be transplanted into open ground.
Reproduction of rudbeckia by dividing the rhizome
To do this, you should choose a time in the first spring week. The "sun hat" bush is carefully removed from the substrate and its remains are removed. Then the division of the root system is carried out using a sharpened knife. It is important that each division has 1–2 renewal buds. Thus, the rhizome can be divided into several fragments. For planting, the soil is loosened and mixed with fertilizers. A hole is made in the flowerbed, into which the delenki are planted. Then they are watered abundantly.
This method is good when it is necessary to rejuvenate an old rudbeckia bush. This is because, on average, each specimen can have a life span of five years, and at the same time, the splendor of the flowering gradually decreases and the inflorescences become smaller. Therefore, every four years it is recommended to rejuvenate it.
Read also how to properly reproduce the muzzle
How to deal with diseases and pests when cultivating rudbeckia
Of all the diseases that cause harm to plants in the garden, the "sun hat" is most exposed to powdery mildew, it is also called linen or popelite. It is easy to determine the presence of this fungal disease, since all zones of the bush growing above the surface of the soil acquire a whitish coating, which strongly resembles a frozen lime solution. For the treatment of affected specimens, it is recommended to treat the rudbeckia bushes with copper sulfate (to prepare a solution, 80 grams of the drug are stirred in 10 liters of water) or colloidal sulfur (at a concentration of 80%).
When brown spots are found on the foliage, it began to thin out and wither, then these symptoms are a sign of defeat nematodes - small worms that infect the root system. All rudbeckia plants with similar characteristics must be removed and burned. The plantings remaining on the flowerbed are recommended to be treated with preparations like Nemaphos, Bazamid or Nemagon. It is important not to violate the instructions specified by the manufacturer. If annual crops are infected with a nematode, then when autumn comes they are completely destroyed, trying not to leave even a single small piece, the area where the "black-eyed Suzanne" grew and watered with a strong solution of potassium permanganate (the color should be rich dark crimson).
The next pests that infect rudbeckia bushes are caterpillars and larvae. To destroy them, insecticidal preparations of a wide spectrum of action are used, such as, for example, Karate or Rovikurt.
Read also about methods of combating diseases and pests when growing a daisy
Curious notes about the rudbeckia flower
It often happens that the black-eyed Suzanne plant is confused with representatives of the Echinacea genus. What are their coincidences:
- both genera prefer to grow in nature in the North American territories, in the open spaces of the prairies;
- the best growth occurs in a nutritious and moist substrate.
The differences between echinacea and rudbeckia are:
- Inflorescences are characterized by different colors: in 1 plant, the marginal (ligulate flowers) have a crimson or crimson color, and the "sun hat" flaunts with various shades of yellow, orange, or they are brown.
- Bracts in Echinacea are hard and thorny, with an awl-shaped sharpening at the apex and receptacle; in rudbeckia, these elements are soft to the touch. This is even defined in the name of the first plant - "echitnos" when translated from Greek means "thorny".
- Echinacea is actively used in folk medicine, while rudbeckia has no medicinal properties, according to some people, at all.
Types and varieties of rudbeckia
All varieties of "sun hats" are divided into annuals (which are recognized as biennials) and perennials.
Annual species:
Rudbeckia hairy (Rudbeckia hirta)
often found under the name Rudbeckia shaggy. Comes from the open prairies of North America. Can be grown as an annual or as a biennial crop. The surface of the shoots is covered with coarse hairs. The stems grow both simple and branched. Their height is approaching one meter. In the root zone, the foliage has an ovoid shape and is attached to the stems with petioles. On the stems, the leaves have a regular arrangement, their shape is broadly lanceolate, there are no petioles. On the surface of the stem leaves, there is a hairy coating, an edge with large teeth.
During the summer-autumn period, basket inflorescences are formed on the tops of elongated flowering stems of rudbeckia hairy. When fully opened, they will reach 10 cm in diameter. In the central part, the tubular flowers are painted in a purple-grayish color, the marginal (reed) flowers have a bright yellow tint. The flower has a convex receptacle. Mainly cultivated varieties are characterized by low heights, such as:
- Goldflamme and Toto Rustic, in which the stems do not exceed the height indicators of 35 cm;
- Indian Summa (Indian Summer or Indian summer) and Marmalade (Marmalade), the height of the shoots, which is 45 cm;
- Goldsturm, a variety of rudbeckia hairy, characterized by a height of 60 cm, the diameter of simple inflorescences is equal to 10 cm.
There are popular varieties with high heights:
- Autumn Leaves or Autumn leaves), whose stems can stretch up to 0.75 cm in height. Their tops are crowned with baskets with brown tubular flowers in the central part, surrounded by velvety marginal petals of red, bronze or brown tones.
- Moreno differs from the hairy variety Autumn Leaves in the form of petals with a reddish-brown tint and a yellow edge. They are arranged in several rows.
- Goldilocks or Goldilocks) pleasing to the eye with inflorescences-baskets with orange petals, opening up to a diameter of 10 cm. The inflorescences are crowned with stems, the height of which varies within 40-60 cm.
- Green Eyes or Green eyes) a fairly voluminous bush of rudbeckia hairy with stems reaching 70 cm in height. The tubular flowers in the central part of the baskets are painted in an olive green color and are located on a convex flower disk, surrounded by their rich yellow marginal flowers.
- Cherry Brandy or Cherry brandy), in which the inflorescence is composed in the central part of tubular flowers of a crimson-brown tone, the marginal flowers are red, with a pattern in the center of purple veins.
Rudbeckia bicolor (Rudbeckia bicolor)
represented by a bush with erect shoots. Their height varies within 25-70 cm. The surface of the stems is pubescent of hard hairs. The outlines of the leaf plates are lanceolate. Summer flowering is characterized by the formation of inflorescences-baskets, with a diameter of up to 6-8 cm. The inflorescences are composed of a pair of rows of reed (marginal) flowers, with an orange or bright yellow color. Occasionally they have a base of black and purple tones. The receptacle height reaches 2 cm and is characterized by a cylindrical shape. It bears tubular flowers, with an almost coal-black tint.
The flowering process of rudbeckia bicolor falls on the period from the second half of June to the first frost. The most popular variety among florists is Herbstwald characterized by a shoot height of about half a meter, the diameter of the opened inflorescences-baskets approaches 7 cm. The color of the tubular flowers in them is black, and the reed flowers are brown-reddish.
Rudbeckia grasping (Rudbeckia amplexicaulis)
The height of such a bush will not exceed 80 cm. The leaves on the stems grow oppositely, their outlines are elongated or elliptical, with a sharp point at the top and an edge decorated with thin teeth. In the inflorescence, the marginal petals have a rich yellow-gold color, the tubular ones are dark brown, sitting on a receptacle. It, in turn, rises in the inflorescence by 3 cm.
Rudbeckia triloba (Rudbeckia triloba)
has shoots that rise 1–1, 4 meters above the ground. It is characterized by a short, but rather lush flowering. In the lower part of the stems, the leaves are three-lobed, on the stems the leaf plates are oval. The foliage is dark green. When flowering, small-sized inflorescences are formed, consisting of central tubular flowers with a dark brown tint, surrounded by yellow marginal flowers.
Perennial species:
Rudbeckia brilliant (Rudbeckia fulgida)
can be referred to as Rudbeckia is radiant. The bush can reach 60 cm in height. Whole leaf plates have narrowed lanceolate outlines. The diameter of the inflorescences does not exceed 9 cm, the baskets are made up of tubular dark red flowers, they are surrounded by marginal orange flowers.
There is a variety Variabis (Variabilis), whose flowers are in the central part of a dark crimson tone, ligulate are painted in a yellowish-orange color scheme. Popular among florists varieties Goldstar and Goldsturm in which the receptacle is characterized by a bulge and tubular brown flowers growing on it, the reed flowers at the edges have a golden hue.
Rudbeckia dissected (Rudbeckia laciniata)
can stretch out with its shoots to a height of two meters. The location of the highly branched rhizome in the horizontal plane. On the stems, the foliage is tripartite, in the root zone, the leaves are pinnately separate in outline. When flowering, the diameter of formed basket inflorescences can reach 10 cm. Baskets are composed of 1-3 rows of reed flowers along the edge and tubular in the central part. The former have a rich yellow color, the latter are pale yellowish.
There are quite a few varieties of dissected rudbeckia, but the greatest popularity is given Golden Ball having inflorescences of a semi-double or double structure, the diameter of which is measured by 10 cm. The inflorescences are formed in the central part by tubular pale green flowers, the marginal ones have a rich yellow color scheme.
Rudbeckia hybrid (Rudbeckia hybrida)
It combines varieties bred on the basis of hairy rudbeckia (Rudbeckia hirta), glossy (Rudbeckia nitida) and dissected (Rudbeckia laciniata). Such plants are revealed by the rather large sizes of baskets, their diameter can be approximately 19 cm. The tubular flowers in the central part are painted in a brown shade, with the presence of a purple tint, ligulate, have a brownish-yellow color at the edges. In length, the petals of the marginal flowers are measured by 14 cm. The best varieties are recognized:
- Gloriosa Daisy, which can be grown as an annual or perennial crop. The height of the bush can be 1, 2 m. The diameter of the inflorescence-baskets reaches 16 cm. They are made up of 1-3 rows of marginal flowers, which have a monochromatic or variegated color, taking on a yellowish-brown or yellow hue, in the middle part of the tubular flowers are dark -brown tone.
- Double Daisy characterized by shoots with a rough surface. Their height does not exceed 1, 2 cm. The leaves have strong pubescence and have ovoid outlines. Inflorescences-baskets are distinguished by a double structure, their diameter can be measured as 17 cm. Baskets are formed of tubular flowers with a brown tint and reed along the edges of variegated or monochromatic colors.
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Video about growing rudbeckia on a personal plot:
