Rudbeckia subtomentosa “Henry Eilers”

Sweet Coneflower
Rudbeckia subtomentosa “Henry Eilers”
Type; Perennial
Exposure: Full Sun
Water: Regular

Here’s one for Jill.

Apparently, the reason this is called “Sweet” Coneflower has nothing to do with the flowers, but with the foliage; it’s said to have a faint vanilla-type scent.  It will form a bushy mound of grey-green, lobed leaves at its base with unlobed leaves on the branched flower stalks. The flowers, strongly reminiscent of their first cousin, “Black-Eyed Susan,” share the same mounded brown center cone. They differ in that, on the sweet coneflower, the yellow petals are rolled into a tight cylinders, so that they look like quills sticking out from the center cone. These flare at the very ends, often revealing the brighter yellow insides of the petals, and are present July into September. In time it will form a clump that will max out at about 6ft (1.8m) high (including flower height), by half as wide.

Cheers,

John