Goldsturm is the black-eyed Susan most gardeners picture: bright gold daisies with dark brown cones on sturdy, branching stems from midsummer into fall. It has been a garden standard for decades because it is tough, reliable and generous with flowers.
It shines in mass plantings, prairie gardens and sunny borders. Leave the dark seed heads in place after bloom; they add structure to the winter garden and feed small birds like goldfinches.
What it looks like
Single daisy flowers 2.5 to 3 inches across with deep golden yellow petals around a domed, dark brown to nearly black central cone. Flowers are held on branching, upright stems, many open at once at about the same height. Leaves are lance-shaped to oval, dark green and coarse, forming a basal clump with smaller leaves up the stems. The plant is an upright clump 24 to 36 inches tall and 18 to 24 inches wide. At peak it looks like a solid sheet of gold daisies with dark eyes over deep green leaves.
Growing it with lavender
Goldsturm thrives in the same sunny, well-drained conditions as lavender, and its gold and brown daisies pick up where lavender's first bloom leaves off, with a warm color contrast to the purple spikes and silvery leaves.
Care
Grow in full sun to part shade in average, well-drained soil; it tolerates dry spells once established. Hardy in zones 4-10; leave the cones for winter interest and bird food, cut back in early spring, and divide every few years when clumps get crowded.
At a glance
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Botanical name: Rudbeckia fulgida
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Flower color: Golden yellow with a dark brown cone
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Foliage: Dark green
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Growth habit: Upright, branching clump
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Mature size: 24–36 in tall × 18–24 in wide
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USDA hardiness zones: 4–10
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Light: full sun, part sun to part shade
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Bloom start: Mid-July
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Peak bloom: Mid-August
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Bloom pattern: Long Blooming
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Deer resistance: Moderately resistant
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Pollinator value: Excellent
Sizes and shipping
Dormant bare-root plant, sold in boxes of 25 per variety (order in multiples of 25). Bare-root plants ship or are picked up March 1–May 31 only. They are soil-free, so they may ship to every state in that window. Dormant plants often show little or no top growth on arrival; plant or heel them in promptly.
Lavender companion · grow guide
Community Grower Report
