Hi there, I'm new to the forums and posting in the hopes someone can help me identify a beautiful and somewhat unusual perennial I have in my garden here in Northern Virginia. This particular plant came from my grandmother's garden in western Pennsylvania so it is hardy to at least zone 6a. She has had it for years and doesn't remember where it came from. I transplanted it early this summer and it grew very rapidly, spreading from a single small plant to three or four plants in a clump. They all began to show buds a few weeks ago and the first flower just came out in the last few days. The plant has long oblong-shaped leaves that are hairy with red veins and measure 6-8 inches in length but only about two inches wide in the middle. The flower is stemless and produced from the center of the foliage at ground level and is less than two inches off the ground when opened. It's large, measuring 5 inches across and is yellow with orange rings and a purple center that looks a bit like a sunflower. I took a photo to Merrifield Garden Center here in Virginia and three different horticulturalists looked at it and couldn't identify it - they all thought gaillardia or rudbeckia at first but it's a bit different than either. Any ideas? Thanks, -Matt in VA
Could be Osteospermum or Gazania of some sort... Do you know if it's a perennial or a self-seeding annual in your Grandma's garden? If it's annual it could also be Dimorphotheca. It doesn't look right for Arctotis or Venidium, though - the blooms are too low to the ground.
Rudbeckia hirta, possibly R. hirta 'Rustic Dwarfs'. http://www.dkimages.com/discover/DK...Rustic-Dwarfs/Rudbeckia-hirta-Rustic-D-1.html http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/b/Asteraceae/Rudbeckia/hirta/cultivar/0/
Yes, saltcedar has ID'd it. Very common plant - odd that horticulturalists would not be familiar with it.
Rudbeckia hirta seems to fit - though the photos I've found of them all have stalks. Is it common for it to bud and flower at ground level? Thanks for the help!
The short stems seem like the only oddity... a dwarfish form, presumably. There are various cultivars with short stems too, so it is not overly unusual, e.g. 'Toto'.
>I took a photo to Merrifield Garden Center here in Virginia and three different horticulturalists looked at it and couldn't identify it - they all thought gaillardia or rudbeckia at first but it's a bit different than either< At least they came up with Rudbeckia, that part was right anyway. A Gloriosa daisy should not be a stumper for someone represented as a horticulturist working in eastern North America. Gaillardia produces a larger central disk relative to the ray flowers ("petals") and divided (lobed) leaves.
if it just bloomed now, so late in the season, then it might have been first-year growth that ended up flowering now instead of next spring. that would explain the shorter than normal stems. i had quite a few coneflowers and black-eyed susans bloom in october/november and they were short, so, it was obviously they were only first year growth (and only bloomed because of the odd weather we've been having here - wouldn't have bloomed until next spring under normal circumstances).
yup, here, too!! the hydrangea bloomed late september - i've NEVER seen hydrangea bloom any time other than spring. then the daisy rebloomed, and the roses have continued putting out buds. one of the sunflower seeds i planted in the spring decided to grow and put out flowers in october. and the self-seeded coneflowers and black-eyed susans grew enough to bloom - and the roses are STILL putting out buds/flowers. even some of the iris have put up new leaves (they're not rebloomers either). even the osteoporium daisy is still putting out flowers! it's not particularly hot either - which makes all this stuff still blooming all the more odd. we've even had some frosts. daytime temps are staying in the mid-50's or better, though, so even with the light changes, i guess that's what is confusing the plants...and we've even had a couple days where it hit 70 in the past couple weeks. not anywhere near the usual for november here! i'm just enjoying it - it'll be winter and freezing soon enough...
