Black-eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan is a short-lived native perennial (often grown as a biennial or annual on the prairies) with golden-yellow daisy flowers and a velvety dark brown central cone. Native across most of North America except the far north, including the eastern edge of Alberta's Aspen Parkland. Brilliant from July through September, drawing bumble bees, native solitary bees, butterflies, and (after the petals fall) goldfinches that eat the cone seed. Often planted from seed mixes or as nursery starts and treated as a 'self-seeding biennial': plants flower in their second year, set seed, and die, with their progeny carrying the patch forward. Hardy to Zone 3 reliably in Edmonton. The closely related Rudbeckia fulgida (orange coneflower, including 'Goldsturm') is a true long-lived perennial and is sometimes substituted, but R. hirta has the prairie native pedigree and the looser, more naturalistic look.