Started those from seed 2 years ago, this one is the only survivor, have saved the seeds from it and planted some but the earwigs and slugs are devouring them. Has anybody had any luck with these coming back after more than 2 years ?
This variety seems to grow short for me at 1 ft and a half. Its usually advertized as being 2-3 ft annual.

It's a biennial or short-lived perennial. I have some similar ones of that type of Rudbeckia and usually keep them going from volunteer seedlings. Sometimes a plant will overwinter but unreliably. If you want a truly perennial one try Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'. Not quite the same type of flower but still very bright. Here's info for the one you have:

http://www.missouribotanicalga...

I agree.

Prarie Sun is my all-time favorite rudbeckia.

Karen

I have that plant and it only grows about 12-16 inches for me also .
Not long lived as a perennial but self sows enough to have 2 or 3 in the garden most of the time.

I will try to save the seeds and start them as annuals in February next year. They probably take 5 months to bloom from seed. I think I started them 2 years ago outside in May and they bloomed the first year in October just before frost. Last year they came back and looked even better, blooming end of July like this survivor, but this year not so much just the one. So worth it though and I kind of like it on the short side. Here it is again now in full bloom

Very cheery

Never had it around too long, here either.

Update:
Remember I was saying the earwigs were devouring the seedlings of last year's saved prairie sun seeds, well some survived and are now blooming, about 4 months after sowing. I must say I am pleased with the results. Ignore the fact the plants look miserable, we had a very dry summer. I can say some seedlings look like true prairie sun, some look like the original plain yellow rudbeckia hirta, one plant looks like tiger eye rudbeckia with a giant bloom, and one plant look like a denver daisy/autumn colours type of bloom (click on pic to see it at the far right). So much variety!

Hi John,

I am a zinnia hobbyist, and I dabble at breeding them. There is an interesting looking zinnia in the background of that last picture. It looks like it may be scabiosa flowered, or maybe it is a mutation of some sort,. These are a couple of my "scabious" zinnias.

Do you remember where you got your zinnia seeds for those zinnias in your picture?

ZM

Yes those were the whirligigs (stokes seeds) direct sown in june that the earwigs munched on Until August and now made a come back. I found that when flowers started blooming in the garden, the earwigs stopped eating the leaves and were instead eating the pollen which I didn't mind. I took a few pics of that zinnia you mentioned it changed quite a bit in colour and form with time. It looked like a zowie bloom at the start ! What do you think of those changes ?

John_fender said:I took a few pics of that zinnia you mentioned it changed quite a bit in colour and form with time. It looked like a zowie bloom at the start ! What do you think of those changes ?

Those changes look like natural aging changes to me. It does look something like a Zowie, which is a good thing, because Zowie is an expensive F1 hybrid zinnia.

John_fender said:Yes those were the whirligigs (stokes seeds) direct sown in june that the earwigs munched on Until August and now made a come back. I found that when flowers started blooming in the garden, the earwigs stopped eating the leaves and were instead eating the pollen which I didn't mind.

I really detest earwigs. I quit mulching my zinnias with compost and other organic material because I discovered that the earwigs lived in the organic compost. I now mulch my zinnias with sand to avoid the earwig problem. Earwigs don't like sand. The sand falls in the category of a "dust mulch". Pillbugs also can't stand sand, which is another advantage of the sand.

ZM

Hi again Zenman glad to hear from you again. I would like to try the sand, I prefer to use a deterrent rather than bait. What kind of sand do you buy, is it something I can buy at home depot ? Also have you tried using neem oil ? I read good things about it

Prairie sun descendant, looks better than prairie sun to me !

John_fender said:Hi again Zenman glad to hear from you again. I would like to try the sand, I prefer to use a deterrent rather than bait. What kind of sand do you buy, is it something I can buy at home depot ? Also have you tried using neem oil ? I read good things about it

I have not tried neem oil because I currently don't have an insect problem. I ran a bug zapper all Spring and Summer, and it did a good job of killing moths. There are no "good" moths. With no Hawk Moths, we had no tomato horn-worms. Also, no cutworms because they are also the larva of moths. I kept a water trap under the zapper to wipe out the May Beetles and June Bugs, so no grub worms.

The zapper has a place to place Octenol bait to attract mosquitoes, so I got some Octenol for the zapper. It burns mosquitoes up, leaving only remnants of their wings and legs. It is ironic that incinerating the mosquitoes generates carbon dioxide to draw in more mosquitoes. There are supposedly traces of Octenol in human breath, which is why it is used in the bug zapper as mosquito bait. The bug zapper kills a lot of mosquitoes, but not all of them. We have ponds and creeks in all directions and apparently mosquitoes can migrate in from some distance away. But a lot of them get incinerated in an electric spark for their trouble.

For sand in small quantities you can buy children's play sand in bags at Home Depot or other "home" stores. I think the bags weigh 40 pounds each. I started off that way, but now I buy sand a truckload at a time. The truck dumps a big sand pile, which can last me a year or more. I have two large gardens, and I am in the process of sand mulching my smaller South garden at the present time. Incidentally, sand also prevents slugs and snails. They can't navigate in it. And sand is beneficial to earthworms. They ingest sand grains to aid in digestion in their "craws" much the same as birds and chickens use small rocks in their craws.

ZM

In my experience Hawk Moths , granted, the bane of the tomato, are, to me an exhilarating experience to view and picture. If a caterpitter is found on a tomato I move the offender to the other side of the fence where they consume to their heart's content on a purposely placed tomato plant not intended to harvest.
These Hummingbird Moths can stop in mid air sift 45 degee angles and deposit their collecting porbiscus several iches deep into the recipient honeypot aii the while maintaining position while extracting the nectar,.

Yes, they are cool to watch. I rarely see them in my yard, but I have seen them.

Karen

jmorth said:In my experience Hawk Moths , granted, the bane of the tomato, are, to me an exhilarating experience to view and picture. If a caterpitter is found on a tomato I move the offender to the other side of the fence where they consume to their heart's content on a purposely placed tomato plant not intended to harvest.

Yay!
At my house, the tomato moth is happy to eat black nightshade...
Also.... There are a number of different hawk moths at my house all visiting the 4 oclocks and cleome and various other night bloomers. Different moths have different host plants.


Tersa moth laying egg on Mexican clover


I can spend hours photographing hawk moths....check these pics:
http://gardens-in-the-sand.blo...

Very nice @stone!
I've identified several different ones (sphinx moths) from my garden -







same I think


from a state park


I think there's another one, but I've not found the picture.
Another large moth I'd never endanger -


- from where I worked before early retirement
also the Luna moth (can't find it's pic either)

Hmmm.... @jmorth
You forgot to include the names.
I recognize the clear-wing hummingbird moth, which flies in the daylight, and lays eggs on honeysuckle vines....


I have lots of pics of those too.

I googled the Pink-spotted Hawk Moth... I get those...

also you have the tersa...

and... is the last one an io moth?
Really doesn't look like one of the hawk moths... I googled the eye spotted moths... couldn't really pin down which you had.

@stone,
if the pictures are clicked, the names should appear