Rudbeckia perennial: planting and care in the open field, reproduction and cultivation

Rudbeckia is a herbaceous plant belonging to the Astrov family. It grows naturally in North America. There are at least 40 species. The people also call rudbeckia "Sunny hat" or "Black-eyed Susanna." In order to plant and provide proper care for perennial rudbeckia, little effort is required.

Features of perennial culture

The stems of this flower are simple but rather long, they can grow up to 2 meters in height. Some wild species reach 3 meters. The leaves of the plant are large, pinnately dissected.Rudbeckia has inflorescences-baskets. They often reach 15 cm in diameter. After flowering, fruits appear, they are small seeds with a dark color.

Popular varieties for planting in the garden

The flowers of this plant have a bright sunny color and a dark contrasting core. There are many varieties, but some are especially popular with gardeners.

Golden Ball

This variety got its name from its appearance. Its inflorescences are spherical in shape and bright yellow in color. During the flowering period, the plant is literally strewn with inflorescences. They have a diameter of 8-12 cm. The flowering period begins in mid-summer and continues until the first frost. The foliage of this rudbeckia is not too large, deeply pinnately dissected.

Hairy

Hairy rudbeckia, although perennial, does not tolerate severe frosts.Therefore, it is often grown as an annual plant. This variety is also called Rudbeckia Hirta. The flowers have a bright yellow color, gradually turning into a brownish hue, with reed petals and a purple-brown middle.

The variety got its name because of the portages that cover both the stem and the petals of the bush. The diameter of the flowers is up to 10-12 cm. The bushes do not grow above 1 meter.

Beautiful

This variety is also called beautiful rudbeckia. It has a height of up to 60 cm. The flowers are orange in color with reed petals, as well as black-brown tubular flowers with a jagged border, their diameter is 10 cm. It has a strong stem and oblong or rounded leaves. The flowering period lasts from 50 to 65 days, starting in July. The variety is resistant to frost and various pests and diseases.

Goldilox

Shrub 40-50 cm high, with large double or semi-double inflorescences of bright yellow color with a dark middle. The flowering period begins at the end of June and ends with the onset of frost. The variety is quite thermophilic and develops better in open sunny areas.

Growing conditions

In order to grow rudbeckia, it will not take much effort, but still deciding to plant this flower on your site, you need to know on what soil it will feel better, what lighting, temperature and humidity should be. And, of course, you need to know how to care for rudbeckia so that it develops and pleases with its bright flowering for as long as possible.

Requirements for soil composition

These crops prefer slightly acidic or neutral and loose soil. It must be permeable and fertile. At the same time, the plant will be able to develop well on clay soil, provided that sand is added to it. On heavy lands, the bush will develop poorly.

Illumination and planting site

Rudbeckias prefer open sunny areas, but also feel good in semi-shady places.At the same time, flowering in partial shade will not be so intense. You should not plant a flower in places where the shade reigns most of the day. The best option is if the sun shines over the rudbeckia for at least 6 hours a day.

Temperature and humidity

Although this flower prefers sunny areas, it does not tolerate drought. The bush needs regular, plentiful watering. Ideal if there are groundwater nearby. A systematic lack of moisture negatively affects the plant. The foliage curls or simply sags, the flowers become smaller and quickly lose their decorative effect.

The temperature regime corresponds to the temperate climate zone.

The best and worst plant neighbors

When choosing neighbors for this flower, you should not opt for low-growing plants, because rudbeckia is quite tall and can suppress the growth of nearby plants. Also, crops that are harmed by excessive soil moisture, such as roses, should not be planted nearby.

Rudbeckia goes well with annual verbena, especially when planted between bushes of sunny flowers. White phlox, blue sage, echinacea and monards can also be good neighbors. In autumn, they look great with chrysanthemums, gaillardia, coreopsis and asters, and cereal crops are also suitable as neighbors.

Landing in open ground

Before you plant a flower in open ground, you should choose a place and prepare the soil for it.

Terms of planting operations

This plant is planted outdoors in the last week of May. At this time, there are no longer frosts at night, the weather stabilizes, the air warms up, and with it the soil. This is important for plants that are still fragile and not hardened.

During the rooting of the planted flowers, it is recommended to follow the weather forecast. In case of frost, it is necessary to make a shelter for rudbeckia, for this you can use agrospan. After the rooting of the flower, no frosts are afraid of him anymore.

If seeds are planted immediately in open ground, then this can be done only at the end of June. Important! When transplanting rudbeckia into open ground, the air temperature should not be below +18 ° C.

Preparing the place and soil

Having chosen the most successful site for planting, you need to dig it to a depth of 20-30 cm, remove all weeds and level the ground using a rake. If the soil is loamy, sand is added to it, which increases permeability.

Next, holes are made, the distance between them should be from 40 to 70 cm, it all depends on the height of the future bush. If the holes are too close to each other, the plants will interfere with each other. Such bushes will not bloom abundantly.

Flower planting technology

The first step is to prepare the holes. After they are dug out, they are abundantly poured with warm water. "Fitosporin" or several crystals of potassium permanganate are preliminarily added to it.

Next, plant seedlings and cover well with soil, lightly tamping it down. It is recommended to lay a layer of mulch on top, because the plant will grow in one place for 3-5 years. The best material for mulching is compost. The thickness of the mulch should be about 8 cm.

Rudbeckia seeds can also be sown immediately in open ground, after holding them in water. This will help "awaken" the material. Before planting, they are mixed with clean sand. It will help to distribute the seeds more easily along the grooves, which should be located at a distance of 15 cm from each other.

Rudbeckia care

Caring for a flower is quite simple, you just need to know how and when to water and fertilize, how to prune and transplant a plant to a new place, and how to prepare rudbeckia for wintering.

Irrigation and fertilization

Young plants need more watering.But adult bushes are irrigated only during droughts, but this is provided that rudbeckia grows on the right soil. If the summer turned out to be hot and without much precipitation, then without additional irrigation, the bush will finish flowering long before the end of summer. After watering, light loosening of the soil and removal of weeds should be carried out.

Fertilize for the first time two weeks after planting in open ground. And the second time during the laying of buds. The best option for this would be a universal complex fertilizer or a solution based on mullein. They also use a solution of wood ash and an infusion of green grass.

Before flowering, you can fertilize with these top dressing options:

• nitrophoska;
• potassium sulfate;
• "Agricola 7".

All these drugs are diluted according to the same principle. In 10 liters of water, dilute 1 tbsp. l. fertilizers. For 1 sq. m should take 3 liters of solution. After 2-3 weeks after the start of flowering, such dressing can be repeated.

Shaping and rejuvenating pruning of the plant

Throughout the flowering period, you should periodically inspect the bush and cut the stems with faded inflorescences to the first he althy leaf. This is done so that the bushes retain their decorative effect and bloom longer. Thinning pruning is also carried out if the bushes are too thick. After such pruning, a new shoot appears.

In autumn, after the bush finishes flowering, the stems are cut to the very root for wintering. It is permissible not to do this, but to cut the stems only in the spring, this will not affect the he alth of the plant in any way.

Care after flowering

Rudbeckia bloom ends in autumn. Immediately after that, its stems can be cut off. If, during pruning, any disease was found on the stems, such as powdery mildew or signs of other pathologies, then the pruned material should be burned.Such bushes should not be sent to the compost heap.

Transfer to a new location

A shrub that has been growing in one place for 4-5 years needs to be transplanted to a new place. The bush is transplanted in September-October or in March. This is the time when the plant has not yet entered the phase of active growth or has already completed it. A suitable time of day is early morning or evening, after sunset.

The bush is dug up and divided into several parts. They also dig holes in the new place and add compost or humus to them. Bushes are placed in them and covered with fertile soil, ramming the soil. Immediately after transplanting, the flowers are watered abundantly.

Pests and diseases: prevention and treatment

A white bloom may appear on rudbeckia bushes, more often it occurs on the lower part of the bush. These are signs of a disease called powdery mildew. In order to get rid of this disease, you should treat the bush with copper sulfate.To do this, 80 g of copper sulfate is diluted in 10 liters of water. You can also use colloidal sulfur, which is diluted in the same way, or the preparation "Skor".

The appearance of brown spots on the foliage indicates that the plant is damaged by a leaf nematode. At the first signs of this disease, you should immediately treat the bush with a drug like "Nemagon", "Nemaphos" or "Bazamid".

This is done only with perennial varieties of rudbeckia. Infected one-year-old or two-year-old representatives of this family are removed from the garden completely and destroyed to avoid the spread of the disease.

Also, a caterpillar that eats the foliage of a flower can attack a shrub from pests. They fight it with the help of insecticidal drugs.

The best prevention of these and all other diseases is the proper care of the flower. With proper care, the plant has strong immunity, does not get sick and is extremely rarely exposed to pests.

Preparing for winter

Preparing shrubs for winter consists in pruning and sheltering them. After all the bushes are cut, they are covered with mulch. For this, humus, peat, spruce branches, dry foliage or grass are suitable. The layer of mulch should be at least 7-8 cm.

In not too severe winters, shelter may not be needed, but if a severe frost suddenly “hits” or the winter is without much precipitation, then it is likely that the rudbeckia bushes will freeze.

The nuances of caring for rudbeckia depending on the region of growth

Depending on the region where the flower grows, some nuances in caring for it may appear:

• Plants are planted in open ground in the northern regions in June, and in the southern regions at the end of April, in the central part, which includes the Moscow region, they are planted, as expected, in May.
• Often in the northern regions, this perennial flower is grown as an annual plant.
• In the northern regions, when choosing a place for planting shrubs, you need to give preference to areas without strong drafts and flooding. In this region, nearby groundwater can harm the plant.
• To grow rudbeckia in Siberia, it is better to give preference to hybrids that were specially bred for difficult living conditions.

How a flower reproduces

This plant can be propagated in two ways: by seeds and by dividing the root system.

Seeds

When choosing seeds for propagation, you can use two methods of cultivation: sowing directly into the ground and through seedlings.

More expensive and rare varieties are often planted through seedlings when there are limited seeds. And immediately common varieties are sown in the soil, of which the gardener has quite a lot. But regardless of the option chosen, the material needs to be prepared.

Before sowing, the seeds are placed in water at a temperature of +20 °C. Keep them there for 15-20 hours. Then they are laid out on paper towels to get wet and remove excess moisture. The seeds are now ready to be planted.

When sowing seedlings, seeds are sown in boxes filled with soil and spilled with water a day before sowing. Shallow grooves are made in the soil and seeds are sown in them. Then fall asleep not with a thick layer of soil. A film or sheet of glass is placed on top of the box.

Seeds are sown in open ground in the same way as in boxes. Good to know! When sowing rudbeckia directly into the ground, flowering will occur only in the next season.

How and when to collect rudbeckia seeds

You can start collecting seeds as early as September-October. This should be done in dry weather, during the daytime. Dry inflorescences are cut with scissors. Then they are cut in half and laid out on paper sheets.Leave in a dry secluded place for a week to dry completely.

Dry inflorescences are crushed so that all the seeds get enough sleep. They are put in a paper bag and cleaned until spring in a dry, warm place. These seeds will be usable for 3 years.

Dividing the bush

After the bush reaches 3 years of age, it can be propagated by dividing the rhizome. It is at this age that the root system is sufficiently formed for such manipulations.

The big bush is dug up and divided into several parts. For each part, they dig a hole, add fertilizer to it and plant part of the bush in it. When moving a bush to a new place, you should not remove adhering soil from it, it is better to plant it with it. So the shrub will quickly take root and take root in the new territory. Upon completion of planting, the bushes must be watered.

What problems can you face when growing a plant

Perennial rudbeckia is quite resistant plant, and problems with its cultivation are rare:

1. Excessive watering can cause fungal diseases, including powdery mildew.
2. In the absence of watering in dry weather, the flower may stop developing.
3. Sometimes the root system freezes. This shrub is frost resistant, but can die during extreme cold.
4. By planting a flower through self-collected seeds, you may not get the desired result. The grown flowers may not have the characteristics of the mother bush.

The flower is a great option for decorating a garden or flower garden. It is often used by florists, as the inflorescences remain fresh for a long time after being cut.Rudbeckia is preferred for its unpretentiousness, beautiful and long flowering. If you follow simple guidelines, it will not cause much trouble.

Recommended