Cherry Brandy is actually a half hardy annual.

It depends on what it was crossed with.

Now there's a question I wouldn't mind having an answer to as well.
Especially when some of them look so similar in the pictures, and then you find they are not perennial, but annual. And then you have to sort out the usual whether or not the seller truly knew if it was perennial to your own zone rather than theirs.

Linda

On one site I looked on it said Cherry Brandy was a perennial and one said a HHA. Who am I supposed to believe?

I am not a botanist, but from what I understand here are some possible scenarios why some plants act as annuals vs. perennials.

- Some plants are perennial in warmer zones, say zones 7-11, but will behave as an annual in colder zones. For example, Verbena bonariensis is perennial in warmer zones, and annual in my zone, but some plants have survived over the winter in my garden when we have a mild winter, it's in a sheltered location, or had lots of snow cover over the winter to protect the roots of the plant. Snapdragons also do this.

- Some plants are perennial in suitable garden conditions, but die over the winter in others - especially those that require gritty well-drained soil. They will basically rot and die over the winter because the soil is too soggy for them.

- Some species of plants have different "varieties" which are naturally occuring variations of the plant in different regions of its native range. Sometimes, a variety in one region will be more perennial than one in another region.

Rudbeckia hirta (Black Eyed Susan) is especially confusing, because it can act as an annual, biennial, or short-lived perennial (more than 2 years). It has many cultivars ("cultivated variety") including 'Cherry Brandy', 'Indian Summer', 'Irish Eyes', 'Autumn colors', 'Cappucino', 'Toto', 'Gloriosa', etc. I WS'd a bunch of these last year, most of which bloomed the first year as an annual, and have one 'Indian Summer' that has bloomed for 2 years now. I'm dying of curiosity to see what comes back this year.

proudgm: You'll believe the plant if it fails to return next year. If it does return, then you can call it a perennial in your area. If it doesn't then it was a half-hardy annual. Personally, I think they do this just to cover their butts when it comes to plants that are marginally hardy.

Last year I bought a Rudbeckia 'Autumn Colors' from a roadside market in Delaware. The tag said it was a perennial. It's dead. Now that could be for several reasons. First, it could actually be a half-hardy annual. It could be that my garden is too moist to keep these sorts of plants alive through the winter. It could be that it was just a poor specimen of this variety. I collected seeds and they've germinated well. I'll be planting those out with my other annuals rather than earlier with the perennials just based on my own experience.