PlantFiles: Great Coneflower, Cabbage Leaf Coneflower
Rudbeckia maxima

While rescuing plants from the road grader on my dad's ranch in Western Kansas, I somehow ended up with a Rudbeckia Maxima that must have piggy backed with another plant. Next spring I was surprised and puzzled when it came up. I had never seen one before and definitely not on our ranch. Took forever to identify it. Who knows where it came from. But it was a great conversation piece in my flower garden. The area the plant came from is hot, dry, with sandy loam soil. It reseeded easily and was one of my 'sharing' plants. Descriptions state it has yellow petals. Mine had only very tiny insignificant yellow petals with a huge prickly seed head, and of course the 'cabbage' leaves.

this is my favorite of all the rudbeckias ! My only complaint is how slow it grows. The first time I saw it I knew I HAD to have one. I have been growing it for about 6 years and still only have one tiny clump. This year I am trying to get up the nerve to divide it.

A very nice addition to my perennial border. This plant towers above all other plants in the border. It is lovely. The long stalks (over 6 feet tall) support the flowers fabulously with no staking required. The large powdery blue foliage is a nice change from green and contrasts nicely with fine foliage of all colors. Requires no special care from me and grows in part sun.

A very exciting Rudbeckia! Wide cabbage-like leaves give it great distinction and a much greater tropical effect compared to other coneflowers. Its sheer size warrants a second look! My neighbor couldn't believe it was a black-eyed susan when I told her! This coneflower is my second favorite, only to Rudbeckia laciniata 'Herbstsonne.' A great garden perfomer year-round! For its foliage effect, this Rudbeckia can't be beat! Giant flower stalks are the icing on the cake.

This plant grows very tall with yellow flowers. Birds like to eat the seeds.

Pictures don't really do it justice. I just discovered this plant a month ago at the Dallas Arboretum and had to track one down. The lady at the native plant nursery I bought it at said it will need supplemental water in our area. She said where she sees it really thrive is in drainage ditches in East Texas, so obviously it will tolerate soggy conditions. East Texas is also acidic whereas Dallas is aklaline so I mixed in peat moss to help acidify and retain water. I'll let you know in a year how it turned out.

This plant is a stunning success in my difficult conditions - an overgrown field I'm turning into a wet prairie. Even though the soil is heavy clay, and very wet throughout winter and spring, Rudbeckia maxima came through with flying colors, grew significantly in size in one season, and remains attractive, with unblemished leaved of large size. Because of the difficult growing conditions - I'm planting within the matrix of native plants - I only planted two Rudbeckia maxima. Now that I've seen the result, I'm scattering several more in a naturalistic, random pattern. I should add that these plants were totally untouched by my large deer population.

This plant will germinate without stratification ..... seeds should be covered lightly.... light aids germination...... this is how I sowed mine.... stratification can be used if your plants don't come up...... I have to wait for them to get big now before I can say if I like them or not....... :)

This is a spectacular turkscap-like flower that blooms in August in my western New York garden. It seems not to be affected by either excessive rains or droughts. It makes a great show with r. 'Herbstsonne' (see my image).

R. maxima is an eye-catching perennial native to Arkansas, Louisiana and into Texas. It forms attractive clumps or heads of foliage low to the ground; individual leaves are "paddle-shaped," 18" long and 3" to 4" wide. Out of the clumps of bluish-green leaves, tall architectural flower stems shoot up to the sky like rockets in mid to late summer and explode into rays of golden yellow.

Six to seven foot stems support bold drooping flowers that
resemble soggy sombreros.

It is a herbaceous perennial in USDA hardiness zones 6 to 8, and grows best in full sun, rich and moist soil.