Rudbeckias

Rudbeckias are ideal for sunny summer patios and borders, with some able to survive our coldest winters

- Graham Rice

AS the big sunny rudbeckia daisies look up to the sun, with their ring of golden rays and a domed black centre, we know we can expect glorious and dependable summer colour. And in recent years we’ve seen some interesting new varieties arrive on the scene, in new colours, with new vigour and with new disease resistance.

Rudbeckias fall into two main groups: annual and half-hardy rudbeckias for sunny summer borders and for containers; and hardy perennial rudbeckias for perennial and mixed borders.

Annual and half-hardy rudbeckias

Flowering for a long summer season if regularly deadheaded, annual rudbeckias are usually varieties of Rudbeckia hirta. Grown from springs-own seed each year, they reach 8-24in (20cm-60cm), start to flower in midsummer and go on the compost heap at the end of the summer or in the autumn. Half-hardy perennial rudbeckias are bought as plants and tend to make much larger specimens with far more flowers much more quickly.

Plants in both groups can sometimes be coaxed through a mild winter to bloom again the following year, but this is not usually the case.

Hardy perennial rudbeckias

Perennial rudbeckias are among the hardiest of all perennial flowers. The single or double flowers, in lemon to rich orange-gold shades, open through the summer on plants that can be anything from 14in-8ft (35cm-2.5m) in height, depending on the variety.

6 annual rudbeckias

‘Marmalade’