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After lots of trial and error, most of the plants in the back garden have earned my confidence in their ability to survive on once-a-month irrgation during our dry summer, and sometimes I neglect to provide even that much. But there’s always new plants to try, and some that are not renowned for tolerating dryish conditions can surprise you. I saw this Rudbeckia maxima<\/a> at Fullerton Arboretum<\/a> last spring, its big, silvery, paddle-like leaves growing amongst summer dry-tolerant California natives. (It’s native to southeast U.S.) I’d never seen this rudbeckia before but knew it from books, so recognized it immediately. They had a couple for sale in their shop, which are the two in the photo above. I reasoned if the smart folks at Fullerton Arb. were growing it, maybe they knew something I didn’t. It’s a giant of a plant for low-lying, wettish areas with heavy soil. But you never know what the configuration of a plant’s roots and your own soil’s chemistry and composition will say to each other until you introduce them. Many years ago I grew Rudbeckia ‘Herbstonne’<\/a> well enough in this heavy clay, another rudbeckia with very un-rudbeckia-like leaves. The biennial Rudbeckia triloba<\/a>, one of my favorites in the genus, was unhappy with the watering regimen here. But even if Rudbeckia maxima is too stressed to flower, that’s fine with me. It’s all about those leaves, the silverier the better.<\/p>\n This year I seem to have loaded the back garden with big, silver leaves (verbascum in the foreground).<\/p>\n I don’t mind the no-flowers thing and only ask for more of those big, luscious leaves all summer, preferably without bug damage. <\/center><\/big><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Overnight rain had me up early to check out one of my favorite sights (leaves soaked in rain). After lots of trial and error, most of the plants in the back garden have earned my confidence in their ability to … Continue reading ![\"](\"http:\/\/i52.photobucket.com\/albums\/g23\/botanizeme\/Feb2016\/1-P1011040.jpg\")
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\nFull sun might have been overoptimistic. We’ll see how it goes.<\/p>\n