Rudbeckia triloba (Brown eyed susan)

Brown-eyed Susan is distinguished by its smaller, more numerous flowers than other varieties of Rudbeckia. It grows to 5 feet at max, with an outward, branching habit, but usually stays shorter in typical garden conditions and in a dense plant community.

 

We find it does well and flowers profusely with as little as 2 hours of direct sunlight, so it lends itself to woodland gardens. This Rudbeckia prefers some moderate moisture, wilting in the highest heat and struggling in long drought. It does well in average soil if established in the fall or early in the season. This species makes a great rain garden plant with high density of other species.

 

The flowers are pollinated by short tongued solitary bees, moths, and butterflies. It is a wonderful flower for attracting many small native bees that easily escape notice. This Rudbeckia flowers heaviest in summer, and sporadically into fall, sometimes up to first frost, similar to an annual or biennial. Rudbeckia triloba is weakly perennial, and usually is treated as a biennial, meaning year zero to one it spends growing as a rosette, then flowering its second year. 

 

Brown-eyed Susan produces ample seed, which lends itself well to feeding birds after a flower is pollinated. Primarily goldfinches will pluck even fresh seeds from the seedheads before seed is dried. Small songbirds also enjoy the seeds.

 

This Rudbeckia species is a "pioneer" or early successional plant of grasslands and prairies, meaning it produces ample seed and spreads itself well through an area or sprouts from soil disturbance. Populations of pioneer species usually decline over time as other, more perennial or shrub species take root. If you want blooms quicker while waiting on perennials to develop in a planting, Brown eyed Susans will give you quick color. Collecting and saving even a paltry amount of Rudbeckia triloba seed would net many, many years of plants for future populations.