By August, there is a certain tiredness creeping into the garden. The fresh green of May and June has long since faded. Black-eyed Susans, however, are just getting into their summer stride. Standing tall with brilliant yellow, orange and umber flowers, they are among the stars of the August and September border.
Native to large swathes of North America, including the plains and prairies of the Midwest, black-eyed Susans, Rudbeckia hirta spp., are remarkably easy-going plants. Thriving in hot, dry weather, even a modest clump can produce an impressive mass of flowers. I particularly like varieties such as ‘Indian Summer’, with its enormous golden blooms, and ‘Autumn Forest’, whose petals are coloured with shades of bronze and red. Better still, those distinctive dark centres are packed with tiny flowers, providing a valuable late-summer feast for pollinators.
