How to Grow Rudbeckia

Hi this is Yolanda Vanveen from Vanveen bulbs dot com. And in this segment we are going to talk about how to grow Rudbeckia or black eyed Susans. Now black eyed Susans or Rudbeckia are one of my favorite plants because they are so easy to grow. Almost like a chrysanthemum or a daisy they kind of just grow without you. They don't need a lot of care. They do need full hot sun, and good drainage. They like to be in raised beds or somewhere where they can not sit in a bog of water over the winter. So you can buy them in pots or you can buy them by the roots sometimes. And you can either leave them in the containers or you can throw them right into the ground and they'll come back every year. They can handle really cold temperatures and they are great cut flowers. And another trick that I've learned over the years with them is once you've got this set of blooms that is starting to look tacky, instead of just letting it die and not look very good. If you actually go down and chop some of that out, not all the way to the ground, just to where it meets another bloom that looks good. If you trim out the bad ones, a lot of times what will happen is that it will encourage new growth and you'll get a second set of blooms before the fall hits and so you'll get two to three sets of blooms on them over the summer. And I love that about them. If they look good and lush then leave them alone, if they look tacky in any way, cut them out. They are fine in the containers, you can leave them outside in the containers year round or you can throw them right into the ground. As long as they are in a sunny spot they will do really well. And I love them because they are one of the number one butterfly plants and if you want to attract butterflies to your garden Rudbeckia is the key plant to your garden.