Would the Real Black-eyed Susan Please Stand Up?

I have just spent two months working in a local greenhouse and nursery. I got to share my knowledge, learn some new things, and help folks make a lot of gardening decisions. Oh, the power. But more than that...okay, not more than that. I mean, what more could there be than the power? What I mean to say is, in addition to that, I got an education in what gardening means to people, which evidently is mostly a low-maintenance color scheme. Much of my input often fell on deaf ears, whether it was steering them away from some invasive non-native, suggesting letting the Common Milkweed grow in their yards, or sorting out the Yellow Coneflowers from the Black-eyed Susans. Some days it seemed that was all I did, sort out the Yellow Coneflowers from the Black-eyed Susans.

Let's cut to the chase, while a few flowers are commonly called Black-eyed Susans, Rudbeckia hirta is the "real" Black-eyed Susan. Among those other yellow coneflowers that are often called Black-eyed Susan, making life difficult for us greenhouse and nursery workers, R. fulgida, an eastern U.S. native, is the one most often confused with R. hirta. Garden favorite Goldstrum (R. fulgida var. sullivantii) is a particularly guilty party in this confusion. Another species, R. serotina is often referred to as Black-eyed Susan as well.

A member of the Composite Family (Compositae), Black-eyed Susans differ from many wildflowers in that they have no aroma to speak of, are scarce in folklore, and evidently had nothing to offer healers of past eras. Regardless, they are a botanical success story.

A native of the western plains and prairies, Black-eyed Susans got their chance to move east early in the 19th century when their seeds, mixed with those of red clover, crossed the Mississippi. All that land, cleared for agriculture, was theirs for the taking. And if they needed any further help it came in the form of insects who love them for the deep cup of nectar and abundance of pollen they offer. Today they can be found in nearly every state and many provinces.

Black-eyed Susans are a biennial, preferring the wide open spaces of roadsides, fields, and open woods. The first year they produce a rosette of leaves. Flowers bloom the second year, throughout the summer and early autumn. They are a coarse, roughed-stemmed plant, growing up to 3' tall. The flowers are about 3" wide. Gardeners are so fond of them not only for their lovely color, but because they last for more than a month.

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