Last year the growing conditions were not good for rudbeckias, but one new cultivar did well enough to impress me–‘Sahara’:
The plants grow 20 inches tall with double and semi-double flowers in reddish-brown and brown shades like cream, copper, burnt-rose and amber.
Because of our mild winter, a couple of ‘Sahara’ plants I sprouted from seed for last summer’s flowerbeds survived and returned again this spring. For more than a month this plant looked like an overachiever because it was about ten times larger than any of the seedlings I planted in the flowerbed in late May, but eventually the other plants caught up:
Rudbeckias perform best in full sun, but they will tolerate partial-shade. I’ve grown rudbeckias successfully for many years, and I don’t have a stitch of full sun in my yard.
‘Sahara’ wasn’t the only homegrown rudbeckia to overwinter. Several ‘Indian Summer’ plants were happily towering over another flowerbed for many weeks until the new-this-year annuals caught up to them:
2 comments
I have a number of Sahara Rudbeckias, but they are not as ad as yours. Mine have a bloom or two on each plant, but the plants are only about 10 inches high or less. Colors are similar to yours with red shades dominate. To provide a contrast I planted three Prairie Sun. The are just starting to bloom. I also have three Denver Daisy. In another part of sm small garden I have two bunches of Rustic Toto. Both Denver Daisy and Toto are in full bloom. Not as shady as where the Saharas are.
We weren’t able to get the plants in until the first week in July. Our hydrangeas are not showing buds yet. It’s happened before because of late frosts, even though the shrubs were wrapped with brin.
I’ll write again after our trip to Toronto the last two weeks in August. James
I was just outside and noticed one of my ‘Sahara’ plants that overwintered has suddenly shriveled up and looks like it will probably croak. I’m not really surprised. We were inundated with rain in July (just under 9 inches) and rudbeckias don’t like to be wet. The plants I started from seed back in February still look okay. July can be a pretty dry, hot month here, but not this year. I guess I should be thankful I didn’t have to do any watering. 🙂
I hope your plants take off and give you a nice show. I believe ‘Toto’ was one of the first rudbeckias I ever grew from seed. I hope you’re having a nice summer!
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