One new perennial that dazzled me this year is Rudbeckia ‘Early Bird Gold’. The plant is day-length neutral which means it doesn’t need a certain number of daylight hours before it will begin blooming. Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ doesn’t begin blooming until late July or early August, but my ‘Early Bird Gold’ plants started blooming in mid-June and have been going non-stop ever since.
I planted ‘Early Bird Gold’ in two separate areas of my new front yard bed. All of them are in partial shade, but the two under the oak tree only get a few hours of early morning and very late afternoon sun and they don’t seem to mind a bit.
‘Early Bird Gold’ grows 24 inches tall. The plants fill in nicely as they grow. I’m surprised they are this robust in their first year. I planted them in mid-May.
If they stay disease-free and live up to their reputation by continuing to bloom until frost, I will definitely add more of them to my flowerbeds.