Rudbeckia hirta has many common names: Black-eyed Susan, Blackiehead, Brown Betty, Brown Daisy, Brown-eyed Susan, Yellow Ox-eye Daisy and many more. These beautiful flowers grow in most of North America, the ones pictured were photographed by me growing wild on a remote mountaintop in North Carolina.
The plants can reach up to 3 feet in height and depending on what area you are in they are annual, perennial or biennial. In Middle Tennessee where I do my gardening they come back year after year, but if your winters get colder than ours they may not make it through each year without some extra effort (mulching works well).
The USDA classifies it as being "medium" in drought tolerance, but as with the coneflower I find plants native to our area can at the very least live through even extreme drought, even if they don't produce copious amounts of flowers. And at the height of the drought last summer that was good enough for me!
I typically buy Black-eyed Susans in seedling form from a local nursery, they can be divided in a similar manner to other perennials after a few years.
Do you have other drought tolerant plants that work well in the Southeast? I'd love to hear about them!
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