Three Late-Summer Stars

I hate to admit it, but the gardening year is winding down. Many of the perennials are done for the season. Some will rebloom, but the second show is never as spectacular as the first.

There are three types of flowers that still look good this time of year—native coneflowers, rudbeckias and goldenrods.

My ‘Ruby Giant’ coneflowers must have had the perfect growing conditions this year because they put out more flowers than ever before. In prior years the Japanese Beetles have really mangled the petals, but they’ve been too busy chomping on my zinnias this year to pay any attention to ‘Ruby Giant’.

‘Ruby Giant’ grows 30-36 inches tall with flat rather than curved petals. The medium-pink flowers are very large—5 to 7 inches across.

‘Ruby Giant’ is a champ in heat and humidity, but it’s also drought-tolerant. Bumblebees and butterflies love the flowers, and when they start to fade the American Goldfinches land on them and pluck and eat the seeds.

Another late-season beacon is Goldenrod ‘Golden Baby’:

Goldenrods are pollinator magnets. You’ll see the usual suspects like honeybees visiting the flowers, but they also attract scores of beneficial insects—bees, wasps, flies and even butterfly larvae.

‘Golden Baby’ grows 24 to 30 inches tall in full sun to partial-shade. An established clump will spread 2-3 feet wide. Many goldenrods are hardy to Zone 3. I’ve never lost a goldenrod to a harsh winter.

My final summer all-star is a rudbeckia. For years ‘Goldsturm’ was the old standby perennial rudbeckia cultivar, but I love to sing the praises of a newer variety—‘Early Bird Gold.’

‘Early Bird Gold’ starts blooming in July and those flowers keep coming for almost 2 full months. Even just a few plants can put on an impressive display.

I love this cultivar not just for its insane number of flowers, but because it even blooms like crazy in part-shade. I have a clump growing under an oak tree and it looks as good as the plants that are blooming in full sun.

I’ve never had to deadhead ‘Early Bird Gold’ and my plants haven’t had even the tiniest problem with insects or diseases.

I like to plant ‘Early Bird Gold’ next to darker reds or purples like bee balms, phlox or liatris.

There are many other exciting native coneflower, goldenrod and rudbeckia cultivars you can plant to perk up the late-summer garden, but these are three of my favorites.