After a very cold and wet winter, the Rudbeckia ‘Sunbeckia’ is surprising in hardiness! The in ground outdoor-trial was planted in summer 2023 from a liner.
Hartwig Bull and Headgrower and Co-Breeder Thomas Grube are looking pleasantly surprised on the ‘Sunbeckia’. Looks like this trial came through the winter without any loses. Although those plants suffered by cold and lots of rain in this winter 2023/24.
The challenge for those plants have been deep temperatues and on top of that heavy rainfalls. According to “wetterzentrale.de” with data from DWD, Germany’s state-weather-office, we had:
- lowest temperature:
- -12.4°C –> 9.7°F
- most amout of water
- 571.4mm (571 l / m²)
- 22,5″ of rain
This knowledge opens for ‘Sunbeckia’ growers a totally new market. The Rudbeckia ‘Sunbeckia’ is from the origin a Rudbeckia hirta type and therefore classified as a annual plant and maybe a soft perennial. Looking at this winter we certainly can say that the ‘Sunbeckia’ is in certain areas hardy. Looking at the results from this week, we would estimate that they are good for zone 8, perhaps zone 7.
‘Sunbeckia’ surprising in hardiness!
Also in my garden some ‘Sunbeckia’ have done a great job so far. I wrote about it in my last post from 02-18-2024 “Rudbeckia ‘Sunbeckia’ hardy?”
Above you see the ‘Maya’ from Summer 2023 in front of Kientzler’s ‘SPRING FLING Collection’ in front of my house. Below the ‘Sunbeckia Maya’ from summer to spring.
The fact that Bull’s ‘Sunbeckia’ are more than a annual Rudbeckia hirta, offers a totally new field in a lot of areas world wide.
More information about ‘Sunbeckia’ you can find on:
Your Sven Magnussen