Black-Eyed Susan

Rudbeckia hirta

Hills guide picknative · Hill Country

Black-Eyed Susan is a perennial native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 1–2 ft tall and 1–2 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and low to medium water, and handles clay soil. Blooms orange in summer. Good for birds and butterflies.

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From our guide

Village of the Hills

Golden daisies with dark central cones on upright stems through early summer.

Why it works here

Reliable, cheerful, and it reseeds into drifts without becoming a problem.

Watch out

Behaves as an annual or short-lived perennial here. Let some seed set or it will not return.

The facts

8 sources

Type: Perennial
Sun: Full sun to part shade (3+ hrs)
Water: Low to medium
Height: 1–2 ft
Spread: 1–2 ft
Bloom: Summer · orange
Foliage: Deciduous
Soil: Takes clay · recorded on clay, dry, loam, moist, rich, sand, well drained
Deer: Low — deer eat it; cage or plant where they cannot reach. Browsed
Wildlife: Supports birds and butterflies

Size, sun, water and foliage from the Village of the Hills guide; the rest resolved across sources.

Where it grows

Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:

Balcones CanyonlandsLlano UpliftEdwards Plateau WoodlandNorthern Blackland PrairieSouthern Post Oak SavannaFloodplains and Low TerracesLimestone Cut PlainSan Antonio Prairie

2,128 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).

Can you buy it?

In the Village of the Hills guide, but not on the grower stock lists we read yet. Ask a native-plant nursery.

also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.