Rudbeckia flower

A Last Gleam of Gold

Posted on by Ann Mackay

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My recent posts for this month and September have almost all featured blue or lavender-blue flowers. (No surprise there, since they are amongst my favourite colours.) So for this week, I thought I should try to find something different. That’s not so easy now. I have a little bit of pink and red around, and a some white, but there’s not a lot left in flower here at this stage of autumn.

This Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ is just coming to the end of its flowers after providing a bright gleam of yellow for the last few weeks. I’m waiting for it to die down a little more to allow me to move it to an area where it will have a bit more moisture. It’s a plant that isn’t really happy in the dry conditions here, and can struggle when there’s little rain. If I don’t remember to water it in the summer, it can very quickly begin to look sorry for itself.

It will be moved to an area beside the little bog-garden, where it will be easy to remember to water it. (The bog-garden itself needs regular watering, otherwise it can dry out surprisingly quickly. Probably that’s because it is small and is now well-filled with Siberian irises, astilbes and ragged robin. It could do with being bigger, but we don’t have the space.)

I hope that the new position will allow the rudbeckia to bulk up and flower more prolifically. Nearby there is a vibrant purple aster and another, much shorter, rudbeckia. With a bit of luck, there should, in future, be a bigger patch of yellow flowers to bring some extra ‘sunshine’ to our autumn days.

Rudbeckia flowers
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Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

20 thoughts on “A Last Gleam of Gold”

  1. I looked up this flower and found it’s a cultivar of Rudbeckia fulgida. Then I looked that up and found it’s native in the eastern United States (including a few counties in Texas). It certainly gave you the blast of yellow you crave this late in the year.

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    1. I think a lot of our garden flowers, especially in late summer and autumn, originate from the US – so on behalf of UK gardeners, thank you! 🙂 They certainly brighten up our days!

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    1. A great bonus to get two lots of flowers! It would be brilliant if this one did that… 🙂 The smaller Rudbeckia (cultivar unknown) does flower a few weeks earlier than Goldsturm does, so there will be a spread of bloom from that. At this time of year I’m grateful for any colour that remains and I’m sure that any bees around will be glad of whatever is still in flower.

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      2. It’s an ongoing project here to extend the period that there are flowers available to bees and other pollinators, so I’ll be looking out for more late and very early flowerers. 🐝

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    1. I’ve had difficulty keeping them going too, Jude. I think my soil is too well-drained for them…Mediterranean plants love it but Rudbeckias and Heleniums struggle. I’ve given up on Heleniums for now but I’m hoping that I can create a better spot for this Rudbeckia. Fingers crossed!

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  5. The masses of gold are decreasing here, but an assortment of sunflower species still are abloom. I’ve seen a few native Rudbeckias here and there, but seedheads are far more common. The flowers certinly do provide a bright splash of color, so I hope these thrive — and spread — for you. They’re delightful part of a fading seasonal palette.

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  6. This is a beautiful flower, with and without petals, Ann. I hope your plant not only survives getting transplanted but that it will like its new home better.

    I also love the late bloomers. It’s so cheering to see blooms in late October or even November.

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    1. Thanks Tanja! The late-blooming flowers help to hold off the feeling of the approach of winter for me. Flowers at this time of year are especially welcome and must be a lifesaver for any bees (and other pollinators) still around.

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  8. I’ve always loved Rudbeckia. A striking gleam of gold with its brown cone. I had some wildflower seeds way back for mother’s day and sprinkled them in a plant pot in the kitchen. The only things to emerge was Rudbeckia which I didn’t bother planting out, and is now sitting on my living room window bottom with my red geraniums. Enjoy your last gleams of gold.

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