Black Eyed Susan is a beautiful, great selling perennial that is super easy to grow and super easy to propagate.
Several years ago I planted about 20 in a bed and for the past several years we dig up about 5 clumps, tear those clumps into pretty small pieces, pot them up and in a matter of weeks people are paying $6.97 each for them.
And I still have plenty more to dig and divide!
Dividing them is as easy as pie. We simply set the clump on The Wrap Around Potting Station, shake off as much soil as we can, and start tearing the clump apart. Each piece that we pot up is probably no bigger than your little finger. This spring I’ll have to shoot a video and add it to this page.
I really need to do this with a lot more perennials, it’s just too darn easy.
Black Eyed Susan is a sun loving perennial that is both heat and drought tolerant. It’s also a great pollinator attracting bees and butterflies. They are hardy in zones 3 through 7. They grow about 2′ tall and each clump will get about 2′ wide.
There are several varieties of Rudebeckia and most are similar, some have smaller blooms but I’ve seen one called Cherry Brandy Black Eyed Susan that is on my “Must Have” list.
Questions, comments, mean things to say? Just post them below and I will respond.
Hi Mike!
Question? Do you ever have voles in your gardens? If so, What do you get rid of them?
Thanks in advance, I enjoy reading your information. Love the donkeys
Mary Jensen
Columbus, Ohio
Mary,
I have really big voles around the rental house at the nursery but they don’t do much damage so I just leave them.
WE Live in Zone 8-B, The Black Eyed Susan is great in this area.
I would love to have a whole bunch of black eyed Susan’s. Nancy
I have them in my garden and love the color they bring but they also are very invasive I have found and very difficult to dig up.
Send me some to worry about please
Hey Mike!
7b gardener here! What time of year do you divide your BES relative to when you sell them? I’m thinking late May division and September sale, because that’s how my garden club used to do it, but I’d love to know your timeline.
I appreciate you sharing your knowledge!
Jessica,
I divide them very early spring and sell them later in the spring, early summer and fall.
Hi Mike,
Where can I get rooted cuttings of Sunny Foster Holly?
Roger,
If they are available you can probably get them from one of our members for around $1.25 each. http://backyardgrowers.com/join
Mike,
What is the name of the variety you grow and propagate?
I have seen some seed vendors list Rudbeckia as annuals, others as perenials or even short lived perenials. Is there an overlap in how they are categorized depending on how & where they are planted and cultivated for? For example, is it the regular dividing that you do which keeps your bed going and going?
Paul,
This spring I had a fancy named patented variety that I was told was awesome. Not so much, I was glad when they were gone. I grow just a standard variety that I label as Black Eyed Susan. Very hardy here in northern Ohio.
Mike , when I separate my black eyed Susan a at the end of season and put in pots can I then leave these in my green house over winter, I live in Ireland.
Helena,
You can, but they really need to go dormant and rest for the winter. If the greenhouse is to warm that won’t happen. I’d leave them outside.
My late husband subscribed to your service. In his 80’s, he hoped to supplement our income by planting and selling little plants as you recommend, but he passed on before he could.
Intending to completely re-landscape when he died, he had cut down trees, torn out a border of lilac bushes and a beautiful rose bed. That plus some construction repairs at the time on our old farmhouse left a lot of rubble, and dirt,mixed with sections of grass.
I need to sell to make the area presentable, by putting in a lawn myself. and have some questions.
I have been following your wonderful instructions on preparing a lawn for planting,
1.The 320-square-foot area has mixed grass and compacted bare soil areas with quite a few little stones compacted into the soil. A friend tried to rototill to loosen the soil but had to give up because of the stones.
Another friend has raked out visible stones, without going beneath the surface. The area is hard compacted soil and half grass area which sprung up on its own.
I cannot afford loam that the repair contractor recommended. To prep soil, would it help to rent a tractor with tines or disks to break up the soil, then level it by using my Mahindra tractor with bucket loader/plow pushing it down, flat?
2. How can I figure out what kind of grass seed to buy, and quantity.?
3. How can I best keep area watered while seed grows and how often doe it need to be watered?
4. In process of disruption by contractors, a patch of lilies of the valley has scattered out many feed across the disturbed dirt area. Can I
Dig up and replant them elsewhere. Or in pot to save to move with with when I sell the house?
I have read carefully your planting a lawn instructions, I cannot afford loam that the repair contractor recommended. To prep soil, would it help to rent a tractor with tines or disks to break up the soil, then level it by using my Mahindra tractor with bucket loader/plow pushing it down, flat?
2. How can I figure out what kind of grass seed to buy? I live in Mane
3. How can I best keep area watered while seed grows and how often does it need to be watered?
1.The 320-square-foot area has mixed grass and compacted bare soil areas with quite a few little stones compacted into the soil. A friend tried to rototill to loosen the soil but had to give up because of the stones.
Another friend has raked out visible stones, without going beneath the surface. The area is hard compacted soil and half grass area which sprung up on its own.
I cannot afford loam that the repair contractor recommended. To prep soil, would it help to rent a tractor with tines or disks to break up the soil, then level it by using my Mahindra tractor with bucket loader/plow pushing it down, flat?
Mike; 320 sq ft is a small area, a tractor is way to much, a good rototiller will do the trick.
2. How can I figure out what kind of grass seed to buy, and quantity.?
Mike; a blend of grass seed that is popular in your area, a little blue grass, some fescue and some perennial rye in the mix. 5lbs per square foot is usually enough seed.
3. How can I best keep area watered while seed grows and how often doe it need to be watered?
Mike; Water daily until the grass is up and water into the summer or you loose it and have to start over again.
4. In process of disruption by contractors, a patch of lilies of the valley has scattered out many feed across the disturbed dirt area. Can I
Dig up and replant them elsewhere. Or in pot to save to move with with when I sell the house?
Mike; yes you can.
I have read carefully your planting a lawn instructions, I cannot afford loam that the repair contractor recommended. To prep soil, would it help to rent a tractor with tines or disks to break up the soil, then level it by using my Mahindra tractor with bucket loader/plow pushing it down, flat?
2. How can I figure out what kind of grass seed to buy? I live in Mane
3. How can I best keep area watered while seed grows and how often does it need to be watered?
WOW! THANKS FOR QUICK REPLY.
I Goofed, however, Are is 3200 square feet!! Would a tractor be good for that?
Judy,
It could be but it depends on how much room you have to maneuver the tractor around and how big the tractor is and what implements you would be using.
I assume 5 lbs of grass seed per square ft is a typo?
Yes it is, I meant 5lbs per 1,000 square feet.
You do mean 5 lb of grass seed per 1000 sq ft, don’t you?
Yes, that’s what I mean.
I have had these for several years and they have been beautiful! but last year mine got a black spot on the leaves . I took to the farm extension, they told what to spray on they….did not help. I don’t want to lose them, any ideas? I have them in different places and the (black spot) was on all of them! Thank You
Nancy,
I don’t think I’d be concerned. Usually caused by high humidity and goes away the next season. You can try spraying them early, before it gets humid.
Can I buy some black eyed susan from you? Or send me some email addresses of some of your growers.
EJ,
I don’t ship any plants. The only way to connect with our growers is through the members area. http://backyardgrowers.com/join
Sorry.
Hi Mike,
We have a tall CrepeMyrtle &.its been there a while. In the meantime birds have dropped some seeds or something magical happened and we have quite a few little ones, but they fell and are growing in my flower bed. We tried to dig them up, but the root is very long and doesn’t want to come out of the ground according to my husband.
What do you suggest and does it hurt it to cut that root. Also , when’s the best time to move them and plant elsewhere. There’s just not room in the flower bed.
Thank you !
Sandra,
When they are dormant they are easy to move and you can cut the roots. But once leafed out it will likely kill them.
Mike, I had black Eyed Susan mixed in my wildflowers, they did not do well and were scraggly, can you get cuttings from this type of planting, although I don’t have these wildflowers anymore I was thinking of going back to them
Darrel,
They can be rooted but really need to be put into a bed in the ground before winter. They young perennial cuttings don’t do well if not a bit established before winter.
Mike,
I have had the cherry Brandy. They did not do as well as others. In fact, I dont even think they came back the next year.
Hi, Mike! How do you keep your Black-Eyed-Susan bed weeded? Do you use mulch? If so, what kind? Thank you!
Karen,
We do mulch that bed but usually with just free wood chips from tree trimmers and it’s not really a good mulch. But the plants are pretty tight in the bed and keep the weeds at at bay.
Do you have a red maple tree that is really true red always, and how much is it?
Right now I have one right now. Pixie $149. https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/acer-palmatum-pixie
DearMike:
this flower,black eyed susan is the same that we (in Peru,south hemisphery ) knows and call as ‘girasol’ or ‘sunflower’
thanks by your guide.
Greetings
Hugh
The Black Eyed Susan is related to the girasol (sunflower); they’re both in the aster family—but girasol has wide leaves and stands on a tall, thick stem, and Black Eyed Susan has narrow leaves, thin, tough stems, smaller flowers, and grows in clumps no taller than 3 ft.
I like that girasol describes how the flower heads turn to follow the sun.
I didn’t know that sunflowers would grow well in Peru. In the U.S., sunflowers are a big cash crop on the flat, midwestern plains, Black Eyed Susan grows wild in the state of Maryland, where I grew up, and Rudbeckia hirta has been the official state flower of Maryland since 1918.
These are beautiful, but the kind I have (I think it’s the standard run-of-the-mill one) requires some work to keep them in one area. They reseed abundantly, so be careful where you plant them if you don’t want to work at keeping them contained.
They are the scourge of my garden and yard.. I planted a few four years ago for my wife and they have worked tirelessly to take over my entire yard and gardens. A constant battle. I wish I had never planted them!
About five years ago, my daughter gifted me a bag of wildflower seeds. Those seeds yielded dozens of Black-Eyed Susans, yellow Coreopsis, and pink Echinacea Coneflowers. They continue to multiply and come back every year. I highly recommend them.
I got some seed for Black-eyed Susan. It says on the package, “short-lived perennial. Lives only about 3 years.” Is that your experience?
Terry,
Truth be told that’s kinda the case with a lot of perennials but I’ve not experienced that with these. But most perennials if you dig them up and divide them every few years they do far better.
What time of year do you divide them?
Keith,
Early spring is the ideal time to divide Black Eyed Susans.
I love black-eyed susans. Do they grow in sunny California? I live in So. Calif. and I don’t know if they will grow here,
Gloria,
That’s a good question, they are pretty darn tough in the sun. Do they sell them at local garden stores? That would tell you.
Mike, blackeyed susans come up volunteer here in north San Diego County.. They certainly do well in this climate about halfway between beach and desert. They appear after spring rains.
I live on the southern coast of Maine. Two years ago, a variety of black eyed susan made it’s way into my yard and they were double and triple headed. It was amazing. I saved seeds but none came back last year. Do you have any idea what kind they are? I saw nothing like it in my neighborhood.
Robyn,
I have no idea and the fact that they did not come back makes them sound like some kind of an annual flower.
I love them because they are one of the few flowers that thrive later in the summer. I planted mine from seed. Are there any more flowers like it that actually do well in the mid to late summer?
Jay,
A lot of perennials bloom later in the summer, cone flowers for sure as well as lots of others.
Jay,
Japanese anemones bloom later in the summer. It’s a perennial but the greens are beautiful until the flowers bloom. I have white and pink blooms. I use the cut flowers in vases wit( other flowers. They spread a lot also. I have dug up many clumps and given them to a few freinds.
I only garden a little but so enjoy reading and learning. thanks and by all means stay inspired:) Marty
I am already on your email list. Please do not in any way share my info. I trust you don’t.
Marty,
Been at this 20 years online and have never shared an email address yet.
Is the black eyed susan I grow in my garden the same black eyed susan I see in the wild?
Cindy,
I’d say similar. There are many varieties.
Thanks! I am enjoying your youtube channel
Looking forward to the video!
We’re gearing up to put our first real plots in at the new place and I’ve been considering growing these. Thanks for all the great content!
Every time i divide my black eye Susans the look limp afterwards for days? Then i pull them out thinking i killed them.
Cathy,
Do them while still dormant, not during the growing season.