PlantFiles: Three-lobed Rudbeckia, Brown-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia triloba

From your friends at Botanical Interests: Rudbeckia triloba is usually grown as an annual, but it is actually a short-lived perennial in USDA Zones 4-9. (It may come back the following year from roots or reseeding, but is not reliably perennial.) The 3'-6' tall plants bloom from summer to early fall and have masses of petite yellow daisy-like flowers with chocolate-brown button centers. The flowers are so profuse that, in the Undaunted Gardener, garden writer, Lauren Springer Ogden, says, "The sheer profusion reminded me of fairy tales in which a person down on his or her luck is suddenly showered by thousands of gold coins from the sky." A Native American wildflower and 1997 Georgia Gold Medal Winner, it is also called Brown Eyed Susan. You are missing out if you don't have this butterfly magnet in your yard!

I bought one of this plant and it spread slowly and controlled in an area of my yard that gets about 5 hours of sun. I dead headed it in another part of my yard that has an eastern exposure and gets bright sun until about 2pm. Yikes! It's borderline invasive. But, since I had lots of space to fill and it's so pretty, that's a plus for me. And now in July when other things are looking sad and pitiful it is bright, cheery and in full bloom. Fortunately, it's easy to control, and I give away lots of little plants to friends. We had a mild winter, so I've had this plant in bloom for over a year.

My experience with this lovely plant is that it definitely needs afternoon shade or it wilts. It freely reseeds and pops up around the garden. Though I've read it's a good cut flower, mine don't last as long as I would like.

This is a interesting plant rarely seen in the plant trade compare to Black Eye Susan and most likely found in wildflower specific greenhouses. I got some little plants last year and they bloomed the following year in late Summer, about August/September. One thing to note: Height tend to vary dramatically depending on conditions. I put one plant in Full sun to light shade (Depends - I don't have sun for any more than maybe 4 -5 hours but afternoon and strong enough to burn hosta foliages) and it grew nearly 5 feet tall with a cloud of flowers while another plant in more shade grew to about 1 to 1 1/2 feet in height with far fewer flowers. This species tolerate more shade than the commonly grown Black Eye Susan - May 2008 - I have seen seedlings grow in woodland shade.

This tall wildflower makes a great companion plant for ornamental grasses like Miscanthus. It's also known by the common name Branched Coneflower.

Mine grew 5' tall and very bushy and full. The flowers just cover the plant, and I like their shape better than R. fulgida. It starts to bloom later that R. fulgida.

This easy rudbeckia provides a lot of bang for your money. I started plants from seed which bloomed profusely the second year. The third year they failed to return but oodles of self-sown seedlings were left behind. It looks great with ornamental grasses for late season color.

A United States native which flowers over a longer period of time than 'Goldstrum' The basil leaves are 3-lobed. The flowers are smaller than other rudbeckias but very prolific.
Not often seen in catalogs.
Selfseeds.