Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia is perfect for wintersowing. Last year, I really liked the cappuccino rudbeckia. check out this new "must have" Cherry Brandy" Rudbeckia hirta

Here's a double: Goldilocks

& here's Cappuccino. All 3 are on my order with McFayden The 3 pictures are from their (McFayden) catalog

Ooh, that 'Cherry Brandy' is lovely! I've got enough golden tones "out there" but can never have too much burgundy!

Yes, I thought so, too critter. I'm just experimenting with wintersowning for the first time, and I'm going to try some rudbeckia. I've already sown some Maltese Cross in a milk carton, but nothing has sprouted yet.

You don't want anything to sprout yet!

I don't do much winter sowing until Feb... Those warm spells we often get in January will start germination on some seeds, and then they just die when the weather turns cold again... not a disaster, as there are usually some ungerminated seeds left in the container, but still. :-)

Oh, no! Well...maybe I can bring it onto the enclosed porch until then...

I put my tender things under some salvaged windows propped up against the house if things got dicey, but some of those babies survived anything that came at them so to speak..poppies laughed at the weather changes as did those cabbage collards:-)

I do my wintersowing late February thru to end of March. Our average last frost is Mid May

Joanna, how long do your Rudbeckia plants live when you've wintersown them? Most of those I started last year grew slowly and only a couple bloomed. I'm guessing they'll bloom this year. Do they typically behave as biennials?

I also got the Cherry Brandy seeds to try this year. There's a lot of buzz about these on garden forums this year, and I hope we're not all disappointed.

Gemini-sage, if you're talking about the rudbeckias that I gave you last year, they were all rud hirtas. Mine were spectacular in their second year but many died at the end of 2nd year. Some looked good, hoping at least a few make it to year 3.

Rud goldsturm is supposed to be the most reliably perennial. I got some root divisions of that one last year from a wintersowing friend. Time will tell how they do in my garden.

Ruds do seem to cross polinate readily. My favorite this year was a mutant offspring of Prarie Sun. It was a double which maintained the green eye and color tinting reminiscent of it's Mom.

Karen

Fully open

Yes Karen, the seeds you sent me are the ones :-) I kept a few of each to WS this year in hopes of ensuring nice blooms next year too. I've grown Goldsturm, and they are reliable perennials, and reseed aggressively too. Love those doubles you've got there! R.hirta are the ones I'm hoping to succeed with. They last for such a long time in a vase as well as in the garden, so I'm hoping to end up with lots of them!

In a vase, can't be beat

Another

Did you save seeds from your own ruds produced from my seeds? Might give you even more beautiful mutant forms. Each generation can change

Karen

gemini,

Last year was the 1st time that I has ws rudbeckia, so this spring will be the indicator if it wintered over. The Cappuccino had bloomed Aug, Sept and into Oct, until a killing frost. Lots of blooms per plant. I moved them from a container into a flowerbed in late fall. It didn't appear that they had formed seeds, but if they did, I hoping that they reseed if nothing else.

Karen,

Very nice doubles. I have the doubles on my wishlist this year.

Karen -- very beautiful cut flowers. yanno -- that is one thing i've never done.... well, at least not in over 18 yrs.
[i used to do Peonys and Mums when i was younger... not sure why i stopped.]

I only had a couple of blooms, so I didn't get seed. They were slow to get big enough to plant and then we had late summer drought, but they did produce healthy, sturdy looking plants.

Lovely bouquet! It even matches the picture on the wall, was that intentional? That's something I'd do (I'm a little OCD, LOL).

Terese, I've just starting cutting more the last couple of years. Partly I think due to having more space now to grow on- if I can tell they're missing from the garden, I won't cut them, but when there are masses I don't miss them. I've enjoyed bringing fragrance in the house too.

Bringing flowers into the house is a major reason for gardening: Brings the garden indoors for around-the-clock enjoyment.

Gemini sage, soon you will have a good indication of how many ruds will survive winter. Check them out in late Jan or early Feb. Survivors should remain green all winter, at least mine do. The foliage gets wilted, slimy looking, but I can generally tell by then which will survive. I check mine out between snowfalls, when the plants are actually visible. This goes for ruds, larkspur, foxglove, snapdragon, quite a few. Gives me an indication of what to sow to replace the goners.

Karen

I love the Rudbeckia. I have a lot that reseed now and that is just fine with me. I sow them the end of January.

Karen, my Ruds are still looking good! I'm hyped, and have lots more seeds to try this winter too :-)

Cool. Many of my hirtas croaked at summer's end, i.e. end of 2nd year. I had planted some new ones last year, I'm hoping that those survive winter. Have been so busy pre-Christmas I haven't checked them in a while. Must do that this weekend. I know I'll need some new "Beckys" this year.

Karen

Oooh - those pictures are wonderful! I saw something on a thread about the cappucinno Ruds and had to have them! Then I traded to get some Rud hirta which I can't wait to get WSed. Now, since I am just learning here, do I understand from above that I might not get blooms this year? Or am I just very confused...

-GB

GB -- there are some that will bloom first year... i know my 'hirta' did.
I do not have a lot of them, so i do not have that much experience with them.

Some places even list R. hirta as an annual, so I'm sure hoping for blooms the first year! I ordered some 'Cherry Brandy' seeds... actually, I ordered a bulk pack of 500 that I'll split with some folks in the pepper co-op. I probably could have ordered an even larger pack, given the interest, but I decided I had to stop at 10 people sharing since I had so many other seeds to pack!

GB: I've started a lot of rud hirtas and all have bloomed in the first year. I think you should definitely see blooms in your zone.

Karen

Whew. Thanks for the reassurance.

-GB

I agree. Most of them are annuals that reseed. They have a full lifetime in one growing season.

Anita, that might be true in your zone, but not in mine. In my experience rud hirta lives at least 2 years. Our sub-zero temps last week seem to have taken a toll on most of mine, but some still have big green leaves at the base of the plant. I'm still hopeful that at least some will make it. I see if I can get some photos.

Karen

I went out and snapped these photos late yesterday afternoon after my above post.

These are my overwintering rud hirtas, now 1 or 2 years old. Since I have quite a few, I've lost track of which year each was WSown. These are not tiny self sown seedlings, they're established plants whose remaining green leaves are large- some of the leaves are 4-5" long. Last week we had sub-zero temps and I think some bit the dust, but here are some that still are green.

Karen

Another

I had to brush away the leaf mulch to find these big green leaves, but they're there under the leaf mulch.

They tend to be biennial for me too. If I do get first year blooms, its just a few, and will be showier in year 2.

Thanks for that report, Neal... your garden and mine seem to be similar in climate/results. :-)

Mine, too. They do bloom first year, seems most start by around July. The plant stays relatively small. Second year ones are spectacular- start blooming earlier, get bigger and better as summer progresses.

Here's a second year "Becky". It seemed to bloom itself to death, then suddenly died in late summer

Karen

critter, I would think if you got some started early (like now), they'd have a good chance of putting on a show this year. Though I seem to have better luck with germination if I wintersow. I still haven't "got it down" as far as R.hirta culture is concerned, but I'm determined to get there! LOL I've got plenty of seeds from the swap to experiment with this year :-)

Karen, I had the perkiest, prettiest little plants of 'Becky' and 'Prairie Sun' from the seed you sent me,...till the great back hoe/septic line incident! Grrrr....they would have been gorgeous this year. At least I do still have 'Irish Eyes', and they look to be overwintering nicely.

I think I'm going to end up WS mine, simply due to space considerations, although I might squeeze a 6 pack under the lights.

Good, I'm glad. I do love the hirtas. Some of mine that seemed to be overwintering well don't look to have fared too well in our recent weather swings. (Yesterday- Friday- our high was 55 while last Friday the low was -6). The jury is still out on some of them but some, like my pictures above, still look like the roots are viable.

On the bright side, some of my yellow hirtas would have to go to make room for the new red ones, so maybe Mother Nature just spared me the work of culling them or finding them new homes in neighbor's yards.

Karen