Rudbeckia hirta Autumn Colours

From summer to autumn Rudbeckia 'Autumn Colours' offers very large flowers resembling daisies that are 12 cm wide, blooming around a brown center, in a symphony of autumn colours. They display a palette of red-bronze, coppery orange, yellow, and chocolate shades, carried on compact plants that are as beautiful in pots as in flowerbeds. Easy to grow, this short-lived perennial is cultivated as an annual and quickly forms a dense and floriferous plant that self-seeds profusely. It prefers full sun and can tolerate ordinary, rather fertile, and occasionally dry soil.

The annual rudbeckia 'Autumn Colours' belongs to the family of asteraceae. It is a cultivar derived from Rudbeckia hirta, also known as Hairy Rudbeckia, a short-lived perennial species native to the United States. In nature it grows in meadows, pastures, and cultivated fields where it is considered an adventive plant. 'Autumn Colours' is a very beautiful, compact, and highly colourful cultivar. It is an herbaceous plant that develops mostly unbranched erect stems covered with large, stiff hairs, slightly rough to the touch. Reaching 50 cm (19.7 in) in height when flowering, with a spread of 30 cm (11.8 in), the plant has an upright and bushy habit. The flowers bloom from July to October. Each head consists of a central disk in the shape of a flattened, rounded cone surrounded by a collar of ligulate flowers. The collar is divided into two concentric zones of different colors, in a range of very warm shades. The lower leaves are ovate and pointed (10 cm (3.9 in) long), with toothed edges, appearing in basal tufts. The cauline leaves are smaller and sessile (without petioles) with a rounded to cordate base.

Both an architectural plant and an accent plant, Hairy Rudbeckia quickly adds structure to your flower beds and thrives in pots thanks to its compact and rounded habit, offering generous and beautiful blooms until late in the season. Its strong presence, due to the contrast of colours, asks that it be associated with lighter flowering plants such as evening primroses (Oenothera versicolor 'Sunset Boulevard'), Felicia, nemophilas, or lobelias when grown in pots; or in the company of inulas, Ammi visnaga, or ornamental carrots in a country garden. Its variegated flowers will also be enhanced by the graphic look of tall miscanthus grasses (Miscanthus sinensis Yaku-jima, Miscanthus sinensis Silberspinne, Miscanthus transmorrisonensis).

All Rudbeckia plants are dye plants (especially R. hirta and R. laciniata) due to the presence of flavonols in their tissues. The flowers used alone give orange-yellow colors, while the entire plant provides yellow-green shades.

Note: Please be aware that our young plants sold as mini plugs are professional products intended for experienced gardeners: upon receipt, transplant and store them under cover (veranda, greenhouse, cold frame) at a temperature above 14°C for a few weeks before being planted outside once all risk of frost has passed.