I just planted Black-eyed Susan. It’s already growing in my Iowa prairie patch, but I want it more of it. Fortunately, it’s easy to grow from seed.
Face of the prairie
Black-eyed Susan belongs here. It’s been growing on the native prairie for longer than human memory. I picture it spreading amongst new grasses when the glaciers melted 10,000 years ago.
It’s a biennial, so it blooms in its second year and then dies. It reseeds itself, though, so 2-year-old plants are blooming every year, and new ones are springing up for the year to come. Deer and rabbits don’t seek it out it as their favorite food and generally leave Black-eyed Susan to live and bloom another day.
Growing from seed
To start new plants, I gather the spherical brown seed heads after the flowers are finished. I rap the seed heads against the inside of a bin, and the smallish seeds fall out.
Feeding bees and baby birds
Black-eyed Susan flowers make pollen and nectar that feed bees. It also supports specialist caterpillars. Silvery Checkerspot butterflies often lay their eggs on leaves of Black-eyed Susan.
This fact matters. Nesting birds constantly need caterpillars to feed their babies. With no gaps in the food supply! To make sure that one species of caterpillar or another will always be available to feed baby birds, we need a wide array of native plants, including ones that support specialist insects like Silvery Checkerspot butterflies.
This summer I’ll be looking at the undersides of Black-eyed Susan leaves for a frizzy-haired black caterpillar dusted with white spots, the larval stage of the Silver Checkerspot butterfly.
If I find any, I’ll post a photo.
great pictures! i especially like the one with the bees! so cool.
Thanks for commenting, Helen. Now I have to find that caterpillar!