Pronounciation: Rud-BEC-ke-a HIR-ta

Hardiness zones
Sunset All
USDA All

Landscape Use: Border accent plant for landscape floral gardens in spring, early summer and fall.

Form & Character: Stiff and upright, bright and cheery.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, herbaceous, short-lived, bolting annual, biennial or perennial, up to 3-feet tall (often shorter) with lesser spread.

Foliage/Texture: Coarsely pubescent, simple leaves, lower leaves with petiole, upper leaves sessile, broadly elliptic to lanceolate about twice as long as wide, sometimes coarsely serrate; medium texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Classic ray disc flower, yellow-orange petals with brown to black centers; fruit is a 4-angled achene, wind dispersed, not ornamental.

Seasonal Color: Flowers in spring to summer depending on location, tends to flower most heavily during spring in Phoenix.

Temperature: Relatively intolerant of summer heat in highly exposed areas with limited vegetation, however, will tolerate summer heat in mesic, highly vegetated areas.

Light: Partial shade to full sun

Soil: Tolerant

Watering: Regular

Pruning: Remove flower stalks after bloom.

Propagation: Seed

Disease and Pests: Insect damage from aphids. Disease problems include downy mildew (Sclerospora sp.), powdery mildew (Erysiphe sp.) and white smut (Entyloma sp.).

Additional comments: Black-eyed Susan is a flowering accent plant for mixed annual and perennial garden borders. There are now many superior cultivars and varieties of varying heights and warm flower colors. The dwarf cultivars are especially excellent for landscape borders and smaller scale urban perennial gardens.