July 15, 2004

Zahrah Nasir writes about growing Rudbeckias, which can be perennial as well as annual plants

Long time no read! Firstly I would like to apologize to my regular readers who may or may not, have missed my gardening column for the last few months, and also thank those of you who have offered their kind support as I fought my way back from a nasty car accident. I’m back on track now, though and fully intend to be this way!

Needless to say, TR was not the only thing to be neglected, my garden has suffered too. Many plants have given up the ghost, annual seedlings time and the weeds are running riot. All is not lost however and I have had- some delightful surprises.

Top of the ‘cheer-me-up-list’ are a good range of perennial Rudbeckias, outdoing themselves this season despite the aforementioned lack of attention and extremely adverse weather conditions. Last winter was very short and intensely cold, huge icicles dangled from the house roof like we’ve never seen before. Then, it became far too hot far too soon which, I presumed would herald water problems but then it turned cold again. It rained, it hailstoned, it even snowed on the mountains in the beginning of June, and has been raining ever since!

Newspaper reports, just a couple of days back, announced the imminent arrival of ‘pre-monsoon’ rains. They have just got to be kidding. We’ve been having the monsoons forever! I dread to think what is to come next!

I’m wandering off track here and am obviously way out of practice at telling you what it is that you really want to know. Whoops! Rudbeckias is where I was and where I now return.

Vastly underated, in my opinion, this wonderful range of flowering plants provide an intense splash of colour in hues covering the sunshine spectrum from dawn to sunset. In many ways one can compare them to miniature sunflowers except, unlike sunflowers, which are another favourite of mine, Rudbeckias just go on and on, particularly if your keep on cutting a few for the house. They make long lasting cut flowers and are popular with flower arrangers overseas, deserving to be so here in Pakistan also.

Some of you may have come across annual varieties of Rudbeckias, particularly if you live in hot and humid spots such as Karachi, Lahore, Multan and places in between. Up here in the mountains though, annual varieties either turn in to perennials of their own accord, as do Gallardias by the way, or self-seed to such an extent that they pop up in the most unlikely places e.g, a crack in the concrete garden path where I let them be as I don’t want to risk losing them by transplanting and maybe breaking roots.

Perennial varieties tend to form bigger and bigger clumps each year and need to be root divided either in late autumn or early spring every two or three years. These also self-seed and cross pollinate so that each year new variations of sunshine colours emerge. Just this evening I found a new colour combination of an intense dark orange array of petals on the outside, turning to glowing bronze with a chocolate brown centre. Mouthwatering!

Collection of seeds is a simple affair. Leave the biggest, best and most colourful bloom to die-back naturally and dry off. You are then left with a cone shaped head, (Rudbeckias are sometimes called “cone-flowers”), which is also useful material for flower arrangers. This cone is actually comprised of hundreds of tiny seeds which should scatter themselves at a touch when fully ripened. I find it best to pick the heads, or cut them off with a sharp pair of scissors just before they reach the falling apart stage, then spread them out on a sheet of newspaper and leave them in a dry place to finish the ripening/drying process. Unless seed is to be planted immediately it should be stored in a dark coloured, airtight container in a cool place until needed.

Really, I should have started out with how to grow Rudbeckias, sorry about that. If you are growing either annual or perennial varieties in Karachi for example, then seed should be sown from the end of July to the beginning of September.

The tiny seeds should be very thinly sown on the surface of slightly sandy, well drained compost, either in seed trays or pots. A light scattering of additional compost over the top of the seeds,just enough to cover them is more than enough. The seed tray/pots should be placed in a shady area and kept moist but not soaking wet or seedlings will damp off.

When young plants reach the four leaf stage they should be carefully transplanted into single pots, moved into a little more sunshine and allowed to grow on.

By the end of October they should be large enough to plant out in the desired garden location, partial shade is best, and come New Year they should start adding their very special brand of sunshine to your garden. They can, of course, also be grown in pots and moved around as you wish.

In places such as Quetta, Peshawar, Islamabad and up here in the wilds of Bhurban they are generally better sown in late spring though, to be honest, I have found that autumn sown perennial varieties do well and are in flower by the following summer. Annual varieties though do require spring planting.

In ‘hot-spots’ annual varieties are often just that, so make sure to collect plenty of seeds but perennial varieties, if kept in a sheltered (they don’t like a salty breeze), shady place and given plenty of water, will survive to bloom even brighter and bigger once temperatures cool down. They may even, if they are happy and you give them a good talking to once in a while, flower on and off all year round.

The numerous varieties range in height, from a mere six inches to well over eight feet and some of the best are: Annual Hirta ‘Becky Mixed’ eight to ten inches in a wide’ range of colours and blooms up to six inches across; ‘Goldilocks’ 24 inches, double gold and lots of flowers and “Green Eyes’ 30 inches with pointed yellow petals and a green centre. Perennials — ‘all sorts mixed’ 18 - 36 inches and a real mixture as the name implies; ‘Autumn Forest’ 2 feet and ‘Laciniata’ lemon yellow flowers, requiring a moist location and reaching an incredible height of up to 10 feet.

There are lots of other varieties around too, both named and un-named so give Rudbeckias a grow (excuse the pun but I couldn’t resist it!) and name your favourite plants after someone you know, maybe in years to come, their name will go down in history! n

Note: TR regrets that Zahrah Nasir’s last article, Seed security, in the issue of July 8, should have actually followed this article.

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