Deamii Black Eyed Susan

Few perennials carry a bed from midsummer to frost the way black eyed Susan does, and this is the variety with the best disease resistance. Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii is a naturally occurring variety of the species rather than a bred cultivar, growing 2 to 3 feet tall and 1 to 2 feet wide in full sun, hardy from Zone 4 through Zone 9. It blooms the first season after planting. Golden yellow daisies with dark brown centers open in midsummer and keep going for weeks into fall, heavier in flower count than the common form. Bees and butterflies come to them steadily through the bloom. Leave the seedheads standing when the flowers finish. Goldfinches strip them through late fall and the dark cones hold their shape under snow. The leaves are hairy, which is what keeps deer off it and what helps it shed the leaf spot that disfigures other black eyed Susans in humid summers. It takes drought, heat, humidity, and clay once established, and it spreads slowly at the base into a wider clump.