I bought about 9 Rudbeckia (Black or Brown Eyed Susan) of three different varieties last year. All went in during April. Two of the varieties did very well (the other sort of limped along).
Now the snow is gone, the perennials are up and even my late starting Asclepias tuberosa (orange butterfly weed) is out of the ground and several inches high. Where are the Rudbekcias?
None here.
Not this one.
Here's where Prairie Sun sat last year. It's supposed to readily reseed. Those are all Liatris (blazing star or gayfeather) seedlings (make note to weed this spot if I don't want Liatris to take over).
I'm not sure what happened. The roots are well established (I can't tug them out of the ground) and undisturbed by burrowing critters. Rudbeckia are supposed to be rabbit resistant but it's possible the young leaves aren't and were chewed by the Hungry Hoard of Hares that live in our neighborhood (yes, yes, I know they're rabbits, not hares but hare makes for nice alliteration and I always enjoy a nice alliteration).
I do fence the rabbits away from a few plants (notably Baptisia) but I'm not going to fence the whole garden. That might cause issues with the coyotes, foxes and turkeys that pass through. Not to mention the neighbors who would have to look at the ugly chicken wire around the garden. I guess I'll replace the Rudbeckias with something a little less appetizing to the Hungry Hoard.
That means a trip to the garden center! Woo-hoo! New Plants!
Not sure which zone you're in, but I find that Rudbeckias mostly don't survive our Zone 8 winters. Sometimes they reseed, but not such a lot.
ReplyDelete