Few wildflowers say summer quite like black-eyed Susan: bright golden-yellow rays around a domed, chocolate-brown center.
Look closely at the stems and leaves and you’ll see the short, stiff hairs behind its species name, hirta, which means hairy. [1a, 2a]
Native to the eastern United States, it is a fast-growing biennial or short-lived perennial. [1b] It often blooms in its first year from an early spring sowing, so many gardeners take it for an annual. [1c] Plants reach two to four feet tall [1d] and flower from midsummer into fall, longer with deadheading. [1e] Pollinators visit the flowers, its leaves feed the caterpillars of the wavy-lined emerald and silvery checkerspot, [1f] and goldfinches eat the seeds in fall. [1g]
Grow it in full sun to partial shade, in moist, well-drained clay, loam or sand. [1h] Moderate fertility gives the best show, so keep it away from lawn edges where fertilizer can push leafy growth. [1i] It self-sows freely, [1j] tolerates some salt, deer and drought, [1d] and is happy on a bank, in a meadow or in a pollinator border. [1k] Related cultivars are commonly called gloriosa daisies. [2b]
