Cait's Garden

I like having tall flowers behind my veggie garden. So of course I initially turned to traditional sunflowers. But they turned against me. Literally. The flowers faced south, which means they were pointing AWAY from my yard. Yep, I got to look at the backs of the sunflowers. Not that pretty. Plus, they flopped and then got covered in ants. Yuck! Then I found a much better sunflower. It’s a perennial called “Shining Coneflower” (specifically, Rudbeckia hybrid “Herbstsonne”). It reaches nearly 6-feet tall and is covered in yellow flowers from mid-July well into August. And after that, the birds will love to eat the seeds in the cones. If you want height, dependability, and outstanding color, this can’t be beat. I have three plants in a row (as shown in the photo) and they form a wall about 6-feet wide. They definitely make an impressive group.