Carol Klein on why you’ll be richly rewarded by sowing border stalwarts rudbeckia
You can rely on these stalwarts to give you a brilliant border show
My mum was a keen gardener – she was a natural! She had little time to spend in the garden when we were growing up and even when my brothers and I left home she was still busy with work. My father died 41 years ago – the same year we moved into Glebe Cottage – and from that time on, gardening became a very important part of my mum’s life. Though she never had any gardening background, it never occurred to her there was anything difficult about it, nor is there.
She would take cuttings, prune roses, divide primulas and sow seed, never imagining that her efforts wouldn’t be successful, and if anything went wrong she would try to work out why. True we both had help from Geoff Hamilton, settling down on the couch to watch Gardeners' World with a gin and orange.
Although she was always keen to experiment, there were a few stalwarts she relied on. Every year, in March, she'd sow seed of rudbeckia ‘Rustic Dwarfs’, an annual seed strain that grows to about 45cm (1½ft) and produces stocky, floriferous plants whose flowers cover the whole gamut of autumnal hues.
Annual rudbeckias are rewarding grown from seed. A packet will yield more plants than most of us can cope with. I follow my mum’s example by sowing under glass in spring and pricking
out individually, then potting on once, so that plants are sizeable when planted out in May or June. The residue of this year’s plants are filling gaps now, especially in the brick garden and the beds either side of the front door. We’ve used them mixed with dark-leaved dahlias and tall, single tagetes in the big egg pots on the terrace, too.
Most of the rudbeckia we grow here are perennials and they're all yellow. Apparently, yellow is the colour of spirituality. By this argument Rudbeckia fulgida deamii must be one of the most spiritual of plants! Its flowers are certainly among the most yellow of yellows. Large, golden discs open in huge abundance during early September and continue in succession until the end of October, sometimes beyond.
Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' is half the height of Rudbeckia fulgida deamii, at about 45cm (1½ft), with slightly bigger daisies. Both make decent clumps and grow symmetrically from the centre.
R. fulgida is a tough plant, brought up in the valleys of eastern North America. Its requirements are simple – decent soil and adequate moisture. It’ll not die in droughty conditions, but will look unhappy if it’s too dry.
R. gloriosa is less predictable. Taller and more lanky, it has deeply cut leaves and its petals hang down slightly from the raised cones of the centres.
In the popular garden variety R. laciniata 'Goldquelle', the flowers are fully double. This makes for a very showy plant and, at about 1.2m (4ft) tall, manageable even in a small garden. If you have room, 'Herbstonne' is a muchrecommended variety. If grown out in the open it should need no support; in a crowd, however, it may need staking. All perennial varieties can be increased by pulling clumps apart in spring or taking basal cuttings.
'Yellow is the colour of spirituality. By this argument Rudbeckia fulgida deamii must be one of the most spiritual of plants!'