Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia Hirta)

Local Name: Black‑eyed Susan

Botanical Name: Rudbeckia hirta

Family: Asteraceae

Native Status: Dakota County

Landscape Archetype: Prairie, Grassland, Savanna, Edgeland, Woodland

Life Cycle: Biennial

Sun Exposure: Full Sun to Part Sun

Soil Moisture: Dry to Mesic

Soil Type: Loam, Sand, Gravel, Clay

Height & Width Range: Height: Knees (12–24"), Waist (24–36"), Width: 12–24"

Bloom Color: Gold, Yellow, Brown

Morphology Notes: An upright, coarse‑textured forb with a basal rosette of rough, hairy leaves and stiff, hairy flowering stems. Leaves are lanceolate to ovate with prominent veins and a sandpapery texture. Stems are usually unbranched below the inflorescence. Flower heads are solitary, with bright yellow ray florets surrounding a dark brown to black, conical central disk that gives the plant its unfortunate name.

Fruits and Seeds: Produces dry achenes lacking a true pappus. Seeds are small, dark, and angular. They can be pokey and have lodged themselves into my fingertips before, but don’t let this scare you…you should collect the seeds in fall and disperse widely as it can be a lifeline for native insects. This plant is very easy to grow from seed. Seeds readily fall near the parent plant and germinate easily in open soil, allowing the species to self‑seed and move about in disturbed areas, like walkways, driveways, roadsides, etc…Give these seedlings an chance to surprise and delight you.

Habit and habitat: Common in open prairies, savannas, old fields, roadsides, and disturbed gardens. It thrives in sunny sites with reduced competition and well-draining soil; however, it can tolerate and bloom in a surprising amount of shade. Often one of the first forbs to establish in a prairie planting as a biennial with a basil foliage that hugs the ground in its first year, then in its second year it offers a profusion of blooms. Occasionally one single individual will live for three years but more commonly it hangs out in a garden for a few years by reseeding. The seedheads persist into fall and throughout winter, they are very ornamental and offer forage for overwintering birds.

Companions: Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea), Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Campanulastrum americanum (American Bellflower), Symphyotrichum ericoides (Heath Aster), Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (Aromatic Aster), Agastache foeniculum (Blue Giant Hyssop), Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Side‑oats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), Carex meadii (Mead's Sedge), Carex muehlenbergii (Muhlenberg's Sedge), Sorghastrum nutans (Yellow Prairie Grass).

Ecological Associations: Rudbeckia hirta is an absolute keystone species that serves both generalists and specialists with high-value nectar and pollen for a wide range of native bees, including long-horned bees, sweat bees, mining bees, small carpenter bees, leaf-cutting bees, and green metallic bees. Specialist visitors such as Andrena rudbeckiae and Heterosarus rudbeckiae depend on this plant and other closely related genera. The composite flowers also attract Syrphid flies (Syrphidae), bee flies (Bombyliidae), Tachinid flies (Tachinidae), wasps, butterflies, and beetles (Soldier Beetles), making it a broadly valuable resource across insect guilds, even the foliage hosts generalist herbivorous insects, including the caterpillars of Chlosyne nycteis (Silvery Checkerspot). Rabbits and Deer tend to avoid the fuzzy leaves, however deer do occasionally browse it in spring. Persistent seedheads provide food for Spinus tristis (American Goldfinch) and other small birds.

Provenance: Dakota County, Greater MN

NH Propagation Technique: Seed

Special Powers: Black-eyed Susan is that old friend that you haven’t seen in years, yet somehow you pick up right where you left off. But don’t confuse this plant with the “Home Despot” black spot covered Goldstrum Rudbeckia frankenstein monsters you see in the fast-food drive-through rock display. The real Rudbeckia hirta is a class act that lives fast and dies young. Use this plant for instant impact on neighbors and insects. We highly recommend including this plant in all newly established sunny native plantings. It will bloom right away and offer instant gratification but then it fades away leaving space for longer-lived species to get established and come to prominence.