Audubon® Native Black-Eyed Susan

Color all summer long! Big yellow flowers with mahogany cones bloom all summer, making Black-Eyed Susan a favorite among landscapers, gardeners, and nature lovers. You’ve probably seen this cherished native used in public parks and commercial landscapes, so easy is it to grow and so generous with its flowers. It will make a splendid addition to your own mixed border, meadow, cutting garden, or container planting as well. Black-Eyed Susan will also be a favorite with your local wildlife! Bees and butterflies adore the flowers, and Goldfinches appear in fall and winter to dine on the seeds.

A treat for pollinators, Black-Eyed Susan nourishes many of our hardworking native bees. Bumblebees, digger bees, mining bees, sweat bees, leaf-cutting bees, carpenter bees, and cuckoo bees all visit this plant to forage for nectar and pollen. One species of mining bee seeks out Rudbeckia plants (Brown-Eyed and Black-Eyed Susans) specifically to feed its young—Rudbeckia pollen is the only type of pollen its larvae can eat. Black-Eyed Susan is native to the central and eastern United States. It has also naturalized in the West, as gardeners everywhere enjoy growing this adaptable plant. It can be found in the wild in all of the lower 48 states.

Black-Eyed Susan plays host to some other interesting insects. The darling silvery checkerspot butterfly sometimes lays its eggs on its foliage. Several moth species take advantage of this plant, too, including the fascinating camouflaged looper. This clever caterpillar eats the flower parts of its host plant, and literally glues bits of the petals to its body while it eats to hide itself from predators! Eventually, it transforms into a pretty jade-green moth.