I was excited to grow Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’ last year, but my experience with the cultivar was not ideal. The seeds had a horrible germination rate. I had to reseed quite a few times to get a dozen plants for my flowerbeds. Once the plants were in the ground they weren’t all that impressive either. Many of them developed wilt and died. In their defense it was not a good year to grow anything. There was a lot of heavy rain and humidity and just about every plant in my yard got some kind of disease before the growing season was finished.
I hadn’t planned on growing ‘Cherry Brandy’ this year, but around the time I was placing seed orders I stumbled upon some photos I took of the flowers last summer.
The brown and burgundy flowers are definitely unique and eye-catching. I couldn’t resist giving them one more try.