Gloriosa Daisy

If you are looking for a new addition for your flower garden, look no further.  This delightful native biennial will add beautiful blooms from June through September. The Gloriosa Daisy (Rudbeckia hirta ‘Prairie Sun’) represents just one of the outstanding Rudbeckia species available for the enjoyment of people and pollinators alike.

The Gloriosa Daisy ‘Prairie Sun’ likes a full sun location.  It will tolerate some shade, but you may be sacrificing some of the flowering.  The flowers are large and can be up to 5” wide.  The height of the plant is 24”-36” with a width of 18”-24”.  The cultivated flower has been bred to have a light green eye rather than the usual dark brown center you see with black-eyed-Susans.  The petals of the flowers are a bright orange that fades to a light yellow tip. 

The beautiful large flowers of this Gloriosa Daisy grow on sturdy stems. Both the stems and the plant’s bright green leaves have short hairs giving them a somewhat rough texture.  Gloriosa Daisies can be planted in mixed borders, cutting gardens and large containers.  The flowers make excellent long-lasting cut flowers so they can also be enjoyed indoors.  If treated as annuals they will often self-seed this year to provide flowers for next year.

Gloriosa Daisy is deer resistant and considered to be a low maintenance plant.  When you are visiting Lasdon this summer you will find numerous plants of the Gloriosa Daisy ‘Prairie Sun’ blooming in the beds adjacent to the area of the railing that overlooks the Memorial Garden fountain.  Just follow the butterflies.