Sweet Coneflower (Rudbeckia Subtomentosa) – 1 Gallon Pot

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 4a-8b  Find Your Zone

Plant Type:  Perennial 

Flower Color:  Yellow with Purplish Brown cones

Flower Size: 3″

Flowering Period:  Early or Mid Summer to Mid Fall

Flower Type:  Daisy

Fragrant Flowers:  Yes, anise scented

Foliage Color:  Dark Green

Fragrant Foliage:  No

Berries:  No

Berry Color:  No

Attracts:  Butterflies, Birds, Visual Attention

Resistances:  Cold Temperatures (-30F), Deer, Disease, Drought (moderate when established), Heat, Humidity, Insect, Moist Soils, Rabbit

A wonderful and dignified North American native perennial that is highly adaptable and very easy to grow, Rudbeckia tomentosa, commonly known as the Sweet Coneflower, puts on a long and dazzling flower show in the garden. From mid summer to mid fall abundant daises with bright golden-yellow petals surrounding a purple-brown flat-topped center cone are perched in clusters atop sturdy stems that rise up to 5 feet tall. The flowers have a sweet aroma, hence ‘sweet” in the name, are highly attractive to butterflies, and excellent for cutting and display in your favorite vase. Black seedheads provide winter interest and feed the birds. Sweet coneflower will grow in consistently moist soil but is also drought tolerant when established, making it a great choice for rain gardens, perennial borders, cottage gardens and naturalized areas.

Growing  3 to 5 feet tall and about 2 feet wide, the Sweet Coneflower is ideal for use as a specimen in smaller garden spaces or in groupings or mass plantings in perennial or sunny to partially shaded woodland borders. It does especially well on streambanks, around bodies of water, and in ditches where the soil stays moist but is well drained. Its height makes it a perfect selection for the back of the perennial border. A fine addition to butterfly gardens, native plant gardens, prairie gardens, cut flower gardens, cottage gardens and yellow color theme gardens.

The Sweet Coneflower is very easy to grow in most any moist but well-drained soil of average to low fertility and full sun or part shade. Provide at least 5 hours of direct sun for best flowering. It will thrive in a consistently moist soil but doesn’t like constantly soggy or wet soils. It is drought tolerant when established.  Heavy, dense clay soils should be amended with organic matter to improve drainage. This plant seems to do better with less fertilizer. Over-feeding can cause the plant to become floppy.