Focus on Flowers
The 2023 perennial plant of the year is a black-eyed Susan – Rudbeckia ‘American Gold Rush’, and it is a plant that we can all grow and that will be with us for as long as we garden. Since it is a prolific grower, it will spread, and if the deer eats some, we will still have some left.
This black-eyed Susan has a compact habit and a long late summer bloom time when a lot of other perennials are not blooming. It grows in full sun to part shade with blooms on upright stems, and the flowers have bright yellow rays and brown cones at the center.
The long, green narrow leaves have shown in trials that they're resistant to powdery mildew and leaf spot. And its 2-foot rounded compact shape and resistance to flopping over makes it attractive in the perennial border. It grows in average soil with good drainage and does not need, in fact, it dislikes fertilizer. It may reseed in the garden.
Water regularly while it's getting established, and then it is easy care once it is settled in. Cut it back in fall or early spring. This plant grows in zones 4 through 9.
This is Moya Andrews and today we focused on Rudbeckia ‘American Gold Rush’.
