What to Do With Your Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia) After Flowering

If I had to pick out the horticulture philosophical system closest to my faineant gardener ’s heart , it would have to be “ dwell and let live . ” Or rather “ live and permit pop off … back . ” Which sounds much more philosophical than “ just do nothing . ”

I keep a list of decorative plants that are very absolvitory of this doctrine . One of the main advantages of growing these plant is that they do n’t require much human interference once the growing season comes to an death . And at the top of the leaning is the classic black - eyed Susan ( akaRudbeckia ) .

So if you ’re pondering the end of the season in your garden and enquire what to do with your black - eyed Susan after efflorescence , here are my suggestions .

Black-eyed Susans are a cheerful addition to any summer and fall garden.

1. Allow your black-eyed Susans to overwinter in place in the garden.

See , I found another room to reframe “ just do nothing . ” And not just because I ’m alaissez - fairegardener , but because I genuinely trust this is the best choice for any horticulture ecosystem .

In this mean solar day and age , if you ’re doing horticulture right , your garden will be an ecosystem in which wildlife , insect , plants and fungi coexist in harmony for the benefit of all . peculiarly for the welfare of humans .

Therefore the unspoilt thing to do is to let your black - eyed Susans overwinter in the garden . I know that once the sunny yellow petals scatter away in the October steer , the temptation to just cut off the remaining brown cone cell runs high . It did for me when I just wanted to make my garden expect sizable . ( as luck would have it , those days are long give-up the ghost . )

But if you resist this enticement , the delay satisfaction will bring in its rewards . First , you ’ll be rewarded by the birds that will fall to your garden to nosh on the seeds – with Carduelis carduelis , sparrows and chickadees amongst the most coarse gastronome connoisseur .

And secondly , by the magical look of the black - eyed Susan button - comparable seed head dusted in freeze or snow . The attractive sculptural anatomical structure will offer outdoor sake all wintertime long .

But won’t black-eyed Susan self-seed all over the garden?

In my experience , they do n’t self - come that quickly so as to get out of control . The newfangled cultivar are even less likely to self - seed compared to the wilder ones . And even if they do , it ’s only the seed that light following said bird feast . Most of the seeds will terminate up as bird food .

If your Rudbeckia self - source , you ’ll notice the baby plants early on enough in spring . you’re able to weed out the seedling in the outflow or countenance them grow a bit stronger and transplant them to where you have gaps in your garden .

2. Collect and save some of the seeds.

Rudbeckia can grow as a perennial , a biennial or ashort - lived perennialdepending on what type you ’re grow and what climate you ’re gardening in .

Rudbeckia fulgidais ordinarily a repeated , whileRudbeckia hirtacan sometimes behave as a biennial or a curtly - lived perennial . Both of them are commonly address ‘ black - eyed Susan . ”

That ’s why I always care to have a cache of seeds save from my most recent crop . In the interest of keeping as much of it in stead in the garden , I only cut off a few come head in the fall – after they ’ve dry on the plant , but before they start dispersing . A undivided seed head carries a mountain of seeds , so there ’s no need to get devouring .

Black-eyed Susans are a cheerful addition to any summer and fall garden.

you could start smutty - eyed Susan seeds indoors close to about seven to ten weeks before your last prognosticate frost day of the month in springiness . If you cold - stratify your seeds for a couple of week before you start them , you ’ll get an even gamy sprouting rate . I wrote an entire article about sixdifferent methods of doing cold stratification , so you may bookmark it and have a read after the wintertime vacation are over .

And even if you ’ve had a repeated pitch-black - eyed Susan in your garden for years , there are still deal of reasons to keep seeds . You could share them with your friends and neighbors or exchange them for other seed to lend to your accumulation via your local seed library .

3. Divide and transplant your black-eyed Susan.

Speaking of propagating , fall is the perfect prison term to make more bleak - eyed Susans out of your existing ones . One of the easiest ways to do this is by partition . This means you take an be Rudbeckia , dig it out , break open it into several smaller flora , then re - plant it in your hope location .

The best time to divide and organ transplant perennials is either mid- to former fall or early to mid - spring , when the plant either enters or expire its period of dormancy .

Logistically , I prefer to knead on plant divisions in the fall . That ’s because outpouring is already a busy time of year , withseed startingtaking shopping centre stage in my horticulture calendar . Also , for me fall is when I figure out what I need my garden to look like the following year and where I want to add new perennial .

The best thing to do with black-eyed Susans after they bloom is to leave them as they are.

Last November , I wrote a tutorial onhow to divide black - eyed Susanand the best practices that worked for me . I ’m happy to account now that all the divisions have grown into mature plants and all but one have blossom this year . I do n’t know if it was a coincidence or not , but the only partition that did n’t bloom this year was the one on which I cut off the seeded player heads .

Black - eyed Susans are tough plants , tolerant of shade , drought and unassailable current of air . And the fact that they need very little maintenance after they bloom pushes them to the top of my tilt of all - time pet ornamental to spring up in my garden .