Rudbeckia is an annual or perennial plant from the Aster family. She is a native of North America. Daisy-like flowers are distinguished by yellow petals and a lush convex core. Due to its characteristic appearance, rudbeckia is a welcome guest in the garden. It blooms profusely and continuously, turning the flower garden into a golden lake. Rudbekia is popularly called the "sun hat" or "Black-eyed Suzanne." Rudbeckia does not need regular care. This hardy flower will delight owners in one place for up to five years.
Botanical Description
Rudbeckia is a flowering rhizome plant. Upright stems weakly branched and covered with short, stiff villi. Their length is 50-200 cm. Whole or pinnately dissected leaves consist of oval or ovate leaf blades 5-25 cm long. The lower foliage grows on long petioles, and the upper one sits densely on the stem. The leaves are opposite. On the surface of dark green leaves visible relief of longitudinal veins.
In July, the top of the stem lengthens and turns into a peduncle. An inflorescence basket blossoms on it. Along the edge are sterile reed flowers. The petals bent downwards turn yellow, orange, and sometimes red. The lush core consists of tubular bisexual flowers. They are painted in dark brown, almost black. Depending on the variety, the diameter of the basket is 3-15 cm. Changing each other, the flowers remain on the bushes until frost.
During flowering, a pleasant tart aroma spreads over the flowerbed. It attracts bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects. After pollination, rounded polyspermous boxes, sometimes with a crown, mature. It contains elongated, ribbed seeds of gray-brown color.
Types of rudbeckia
There are about 40 plant species in the genus Rudbeckia. All of them are decorative and very similar to each other. Gardeners divide species by life cycle. So, annual rudbeckia is represented by the following varieties.
Rudbeckia hairy (shaggy). The plant lives no more than two years and is propagated by seeds. Simple or branched shoots up to 1 m high are covered with ovoid or broad-lanceolate leaves. On shoots and jagged foliage there is a hard pile. During flowering, the bush is abundantly covered with inflorescences-baskets. A series of golden yellow rounded petals frames the purple-gray core. The diameter of the inflorescence is 10 cm. Varieties:
- Autumn leaves - a plant up to 75 cm high is decorated with inflorescences with bronze, brown or red velvety petals around a brown core;
- Rudbeckia shaggy moraine - differs from the previous variety by red-brown petals with a yellow edge, located in several rows;
- Goldilocks - bushes 40-60 cm tall dissolve terry orange inflorescences with a diameter of up to 10 cm;
- Green eyes - on the vegetation up to 70 cm high, flowers bloom with an olive-green inner disk on the petals;
- Cherry brandy rudbeckia - the inflorescence consists of red petals with purple veins in the center and a purplish-brown core.
Rudbeckia is two-tone. Vertical growth 25-70 cm high is covered with dark green lanceolate foliage. Stems and leaves are covered with a silver-gray pile. Inflorescences with a diameter of 6-8 cm are distinguished by a less convex core and narrow long petals, painted in 2 contrasting colors. As a result, a bright circle is visible around the center.
Perennial rudbeckia is represented by the following species.
Rudbeckia dissected. This large plant reaches 2 m in height. Rigid erect stems are covered with cirrus leaves. In inflorescences with a diameter of about 10 cm, reed flowers form 1-3 rows of bright yellow petals. The elongated central column consists of light yellow tubular flowers. The popular Golden Ball rudbeckia variety is distinguished by double or semi-double inflorescences up to 10 cm in diameter. Bright yellow petals frame a greenish core.
Rudbeckia is brilliant. Thin shoots branched in the upper part grow up to 60 cm in height. They are lanceolate leaves. Inflorescences up to 9 cm in diameter bloom in mid-summer. Orange petals are bent back, and the center in the form of a lush hemisphere is painted in dark purple.
Glossy rudbeckia. A plant up to 2-2.5 m high is covered with olive-green lanceolate leaves with a shiny surface. The edges of the leaves are serrated. Inflorescences with rounded petals look like small suns with a diameter of 12-15 cm.
Seed cultivation
Rudbeckia seed propagation is the most common. It is especially relevant for annuals, but terry varieties are not propagated by independently harvested seeds. In open ground, seeds are sown only in well-warmed soil (end of May-June). They are buried by 5-10 mm in the holes at a distance of 15 cm. After 2-3 weeks shoots will appear, and by the end of summer lush green bushes will form, which can be planted in a permanent place. Flowering seedlings are expected next year.
To grow annuals that will please with flowers in the first year, seedlings are first grown. To do this, at the end of March, seeds are sown in sand and peat soil to a depth of 5 mm. Spray the earth with water and cover the boxes with foil. They contain them at a temperature of + 20 ... + 22 ° C. Condensate is regularly removed from the shelter, and crops are sprayed. Shoots appear in 10-15 days, after which the shelter is removed. When the seedlings grow 2 true leaves, it is dived into boxes with a distance of 3-5 cm or in separate peat pots. In early May, on warm sunny days, seedlings are taken out for several hours on the street or balcony for hardening.
Vegetative propagation
Perennial rudbeckia can be propagated by dividing the bush. This procedure is even necessary for plants older than five years. In the early spring or in the middle of autumn, the bush is dug up and disassembled into parts by hands. Horizontal underground processes are cut with a blade. The resulting small delenki are immediately planted in a new place with fresh earth in shallow pits. The distance between them depends on the variety and is 25-40 cm.
Landing and care
Rudbeckia seedlings are planted in open ground at the end of May. The plant is unpretentious to the composition of the soil, but needs bright light. For him, choose open sunny or slightly shaded areas. Before planting, they dig the earth. Sand and gravel are added to heavy clay soils, and dolomite flour or chalk to acidic soils. To increase fertility, the earth is mixed with compost.
Plants are planted in shallow pits at a distance of 30-40 cm from each other. In warm sunny weather, adaptation without additional effort will pass quickly. On cloudy, cold days, rudbeckia is covered with lutrasil for the night during the week. After planting, the earth is tamped, watered and mulched with compost to a height of 8 cm.
Caring for rudbeckia in open ground is simple. The plant needs to be regularly watered so that the soil does not dry out too much, but also does not swamp. Watering is carried out by sprinkling in the morning or evening hours.
Near young plants, you need to regularly loosen the soil and remove weeds. High varieties are tied up in a timely manner. From gusts of wind and heavy rain, the stems can break.
In early spring, the bushes are fed with complex mineral fertilizer. On poor soils at the end of May, an additional mixture of nitrophosphate with potassium sulfate is added. In the summer, they feed with a solution of rotted manure.
As the flowers wilt, the inflorescences are cut to the first leaf. So you can stimulate a longer and more abundant flowering, as well as prevent self-sowing. In autumn, the ground part dries and is cut to the very roots. In winter, in the middle of Russia, the soil is covered with fallen leaves and spruce branches. In winter, you should throw more snow on the flowerbed. In the spring, shelters are removed and dug out grooves for the drain of melt water.
Rudbeckia is resistant to plant diseases and parasites. Only in rare cases does she get powdery mildew. It is necessary to trim the affected processes and treat them with sulfur-based preparations. If the flower was attacked by nematodes, use special compounds from this parasite and try to isolate the affected plant from the rest.
The use of rudbeckia
Large yellow, orange or reddish daisies over delicate green vegetation look very impressive. They can be planted in groups in the middle of the lawn, along the curb or fence. A bright golden spot will always attract attention. In a mixed flower garden, rudbeckia is combined with ageratum, chrysanthemum, aster, lobelia, echinacea, monarda, chamomile and lobularia. Flowers look good in cut and stand in a vase for a long time.
The roots and grass of rudbeckia have medicinal properties. Even the Indians of North America with its help got rid of colds, tonsillitis and sore throat. Externally, decoctions are used to heal wounds, treat vaginitis and inflammation of the uterus. Also, taking the decoction inside increases stress resistance and eliminates fatigue.
