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Butterfly Garden

Are some black eyed susans better nectar sources than others?

14 years ago

Hi all,

I've been doing some research, and my Ortho book says that Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldstrum' isn't a very good nectar plant compared to the straight species or hirta. Does anyone have any personal experience with this? I prefer the look of Goldstrum, but would be willing try others for the butterflies. I was also curious about Rudbeckia californica.

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Comments (7)

caterwallin
14 years ago
Even though I've read that Rudbeckia hirta is a good nectar source, the butterflies here showed no interested in it whatsoever. I pulled it all out and planted R. fulgida 'Goldsturm' and it at least had Pearl Crescents nectaring on it, but I can't say that I saw any other kinds on it. I agree with you and like the looks of R. fulgida 'Goldsturm'. What I really didn't like about the R. hirta is that it kept popping up in all my other flower beds. I have a strict regimen here, so far anyway. lol Sorry but I have no experience with R. californica.
Cathy
butterflyman
14 years ago
I haven't found any Rudbeckia to be attractive to butterflies.
I do grow them for the goldfinch which love the seeds.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Garden
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Looks like 'Irish Eyes' or 'Prairie Sun.' I'm growing the 'Irish Eyes' but I grew them from seed last year and they didn't bloom. I suggest you Google those two and see if you have a match. There might be one other rudbeckia with a light-colored eye but these are the only two I can think of. There's discussion around rudbeckia hirta being an annual vs. perennial so I wasn't sure the ones I grew from seed last year would come back. Since I have new growth on both 'Irish Eyes' and 'Autumn Colors' and the 'Irish Eyes' didn't bloom, they certainly didn't self-seed. Could mean they're biennial I suppose. I'll know better this time next year.
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I am off to the local nurseries this morning. I am going to take a chance and get the Lemon BES. It might rain this afternoon, so decided that today is my "shopping" day. I hate shopping. So hard to make up my mind. Many times I come home with plants completely different than what I planned to buy! Steven...hopefully I will have better luck. I'm sure if you were to plant it again, it would grow great for you! Your yard is just beautiful now and you have amended your soil a great deal! (Especially the back yard) :-) Bloominganne....yes I had planned to plant 2 clematis on it this year. Had checked with the nursery last fall to see if they were going to get in more Kivistic clematis, as last year they lost their grower. Yup, they would be getting some in. So I waited....then I stopped last week on Monday and they had come in late Friday and SOLD OUT over the weekend. So now it is another year to wait as I have not had good luck with mail order clematis. Memo...thank you. Yes, DH is really a sweetie. He has a few project he wants to work on this summer. One is to hang the 1859 bronze bell (we purchased last year) in a corner bed in the front of the house. He is thinking about building a brick arch to hang it in. Hopefully it won't grow legs and walk off that way! party_music....the plants at the nursery are quite good sized and are blooming beautifully. So...fingers crossed. The picture above was taken on May 30, 2005 but not much has really changed. Just that the cedar has weathered gray on the obelisk. My peonies are all up with lots of buds. I expect them to be blooming in about 2 weeks. We have a very sandy soil that warms quickly in spring. I am finding that everything really gets an early start here. I usually start picking my strawberries on Memorial Day weekend. The lilacs are blooming now and I baked fresh rhubarb pie last week. Much different than the clay soil we had 160 miles north of where we live now. It is a joy to garden here.
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Yes I did. Okay. I will be more specific. I grew mine together and they did splendidly together. I cannot know whether your MGs will overtake your BES vine. I only had a few MG vines mixed in with mine. They decided to grow together - I didn't plant them together. I didn't even plant the MGs! But if you have lots of MGs, they quite possibly could crowd out the BES. It is their nature to grow rampantly in order to reproduce. So, too much of anything is often too much, especially in a garden. MGs are more, shall we say, VIGOROUS, so keep that in mind. They take over everything if not thinned, and thinned a lot. I don't recall whether BES vine flowers are one day bloomers like MGs. MGs flowers open, then close up and then shrivel up and begin making seed pods within a day or two. Very short lived flowers. That is their way. As for the BES flowers, you might mark one with a piece of bright red string or something and see if it is still open the next day. Write it down and see how long it stays open. Then you will know. I just can't recall. I only grew them one time and that was about 10 years ago. Anyway, I wrote what I did above because I thought it was so funny (strange) that it worried or bothered you so much. I wouldn't have thought anything about it. That is what struck me as funny. As long as the leaves look healthy and it keeps making more flowers, I wouldn't care how long they stayed open. Look it up on the web. "Life Cycle of Black-eyed Susan vine flowers", or something like that for instance. I just don't know sweetie. If you think the MGs are strangling them out, remove some of them. Cut a few off at the ground and the next day when they are all shriveled up, you will know which ones to pull out of the mix. Just be careful not to cut your BES vines when you do it. Uh oh. :0 Hope this answers your questions. ~Annie
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butterflymomok
14 years ago
I raised Silvery Checkerspots (Cholsyne nycteis) on Rudbeckia 2 years ago. I don't know what variety I have, probably hirta. When it blooms, I'll try to find out by matching the flowers to the pictures on the USDA site.
steveberry
Original Author
14 years ago
Hmmmmm.... wow, that's definitely not the way Rudbeckia has been advertised-- on the internet or in a few books of mine. That would require a major shift in thinking/ planning..... as I was planning on having black eyed susans be the main floral/perrenial element in the garden.....

What recommendations would you give for a different yellow flower that is of a relatively similar height that would be a better nectar source??

Yarrow "Moonshine" ?
murray_2008
14 years ago
Hi Steve, I saw a yellow form of Mexican Sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia at Annie's Annuals and Perennials yesterday. And the orange form is striking as well. And I know from experience that the orange does an excellent job of attracting the butterflies. I didn't buy any this year yet because of the space factor. Tithonia is an annual though so it would need to be replaced or the seeds put out each season. Murray
Lisa_H OK
14 years ago
I think zinnias are the favorite in my garden.

But I do have pics of butterflies on rudbeckia, so it must work :)

{{gwi:476493}}

Lisa
Lisa_H OK
14 years ago
You can barely see the butterfly in this pic, but it does show one on tithonia.

{{gwi:476496}}

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