Rudbeckia fulgida
Common coneflower
Common names: Glowing coneflower, Garden coneflower, Rudbeckia
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Lifespan
- Perennial
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −25 °C
- Water need
- Medium
Photo: Jerzy Opioła (Poland) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The Common coneflower blooms from August to October in a rich golden yellow with a dark brown center, adding sunny warmth to late summer gardens. This hardy perennial flowers tirelessly and is highly prized by bees and butterflies. The cultivar 'Goldsturm' is the most reliable and sturdy for any bed.
Care instructions
Plant in ordinary garden soil in a sunny spot; partial shade is tolerated. Water during extended dry periods, otherwise it is low‑maintenance. Leave seed heads over winter, they look attractive with frost and feed birds, and cut back close to the ground only in spring (March, week 11). Every few years, you can divide the clumps.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingMar–Apr
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 12 °C, ideally 20 °C
- Days to sprout
- 10 to 21 days
- Light
- Needs light to sprout
- Sowing depth
- Press in, don't cover
- How to start
- Start indoors, then plant out
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, humus-rich, well-drained, moist, nutrient-rich
Give Rudbeckia fulgida a well-drained, humus-rich, moderately moist soil: sandy loam to loam, nutrient-rich and with good water retention, but without waterlogging. Clay soils are tolerated as long as the drainage is right; you are better off avoiding truly dry sites.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Mar–Apr
In early spring, as new growth starts, work a layer of mature compost shallowly around the clumps; on poor soils you can also rake in some horn shavings at the surface. Avoid overfeeding, because too much nitrogen makes the shoots soft and floppy.
Overwintering
Rudbeckia fulgida is fully hardy. You do not need to do anything for it to survive the winter. Leave the faded stems and seed heads standing over winter (protection for the plant, shelter for insects, food for birds) and cut everything dead back to a hand's breadth above the ground only from the end of March.
Propagation
Methods
- Division
- From seed
- Cuttings
Division (recommended): Divide established clumps every 3 to 5 years, ideally in early spring (March/April), when the shoots are only a few centimetres tall. Dig up the whole root ball, split it into several pieces with a sharp spade or knife and replant the divisions straight away in new spots. This rejuvenates the plant and keeps it flowering well; the divisions usually flower in the same summer. Dividing in autumn is also possible.
Sowing: Sow the seeds in seed compost from April to September. Orange coneflower is a light germinator: just press the seeds in and cover them with no more than a very thin layer. Germination takes 2 to 4 weeks at around 15 to 22 °C. For a spring sowing, a cold period (a few weeks moist and cool, e.g. in the fridge) clearly improves the germination rate. Young plants raised from seed often only flower abundantly in their second year. Note: selected cultivars such as ‘Goldsturm’ do not come true from seed. For true-to-type plants, use division.
Cuttings: In late summer, take tip cuttings without flower buds and with at least three pairs of leaves. Insert them about 3 cm deep in seed compost and keep the substrate moderately moist. After about six weeks the cuttings should have rooted; they grow on over winter in a bright, cool spot and move outdoors in spring.
Companion planting
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
For your garden
Grow Common coneflower yourself
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