Wow!

Amazing. I will now have to add more next year after seeing this

Awesome is the word. How do you keep yours to stay upright? Mine always get sooooo tall and leggy. By the time a few blooms are out they need staking. Pinch perhaps?

How long on average do your plants live? Or do you treat them like annuals? I have always been under the impression that the hirta type were short lived...somehow mine have stayed alive for three years now. Go figure!

Thanks for sharing the pics! I'd love to see other shots of your garden (hint, hint). ;-D
CMK

Thanks, these have been amazingly easy carefree short lived perennials that often survive into their third year ... though, have usually lost vigor by then and I prefer to remove to make way for the strong new seedlings. My soil is a bit on lean side, so this is likely key in helping them remain upright throughout flowering.

CMK, I'll be sure to post more photos next year as my garden finally becomes more established.

Terrance

Wow is right! I love these plants and I'll definitely be wintersowing more this year - and hope for reseeding as well, although my reseeders never fill in spots like that!

Dee

Those are beautiful! I don't even like double flowers that much, but those yellow and rusty blooms are very pretty together. Do yours seed true each year, or do you get a lot of variation?

I find 'Goldsturm' stays nice in mounds that don't flop and comes back stronger every year. It seems the seedlings come true or maybe they are just spreading underground. I have had the same mounds for over 10 years -- no die-back.

I would never be without them!!!

Diggerdee, the last couple of springs have been moist and ideal for the germinaton of the scads of seeds that fall onto the surface of the ground. I also indoor sow several varieties, 'Denver Daisy' is a favorite for its range of blooms and compact growth.

Terrene, I get a wide range of variation from the cross pollination that occurs and don't think I've ever found a dud among them :)

RyseRyse, I need to obtain 'Goldsturm' and some of the other true perennial kinds of rudbeckia.

My soil is a bit on lean side, so this is likely key in helping them remain upright throughout flowering.

So true Terry.

Our esteemed contributor KEN says similarly.

Those photos are stunning Terry...well done.

Approximately how large an area is this "Rudbeckia Garden"?

Wow! What a show, love it.

Lovely colours, Terrance.

As implied above, 'Goldsturm' is also a very useful plant almost as a perennial filler in mixed beds of plants which are more perennial than many available garden Rudbeckia.

When clumps get too big, it's very easy to reduce and transplant pieces elsewhere.

Rouge has pointed out the value of the shorter and more compact version 'Little Goldstar'.

Below (September 6, 2013).

Terrance (twrosz)...what is the variety of the Hydrangea paniculata in the foreground?

Another wonderful meadow like picture SB.

Rouge, the 'rudbeckia garden' is of good size and impact, about 30' x 15â wide, I think it's gonna overtake the entire garden and I don't mind a bit lol.

SunnyBorders, I had purchased 'Little Goldstar', though for the irritated life of me, I couldn't find the potted plant, when soon afterward, I gone to plant the thing. It was one of those disappearing mysteries ... until much later, I had found a rotted mushy mess at the bottom of the rain barrel. It had gotten blown off the deck in a strong wind and landed in there, out of site, out of mind, lol. Thanks for posting the photo, I'll be getting another one that will then immediately go in the ground, lol.

Dayscapes, the hydrangea is 'Little Lamb', one can see by the small blooms that the soil is lacking in nutrients and I had forgotten to give it a good layer of compost last spring.