Jo Ann......I've probably told this before but in the 1960's I was attending the University of Utah. I was going home for the weekend and stopped at a large nursery in SLC. They had some nice Rudbeckias. I bought several for my Dad and when I got them home he wasn't impressed. He thought they looked like sun flowers which he considered weeds. He planted them and over the years they naturalized around his yard and he grew to love them because they were willing. I bought a building lot from him and in the 1970's built a home. They started naturalizing in my yard and the ones I have now are descendants of those original plants purchased in the 60's. I have tried a number of the fancier new hybrids but they never last. I don't remember planting the first Echinacea which have also naturalized. I have tried some of the newer cultivars which have lived but not prospered. I love the cone flowers because they bloom when some other things are finished and, if I keep them deadheaded, look nice well into the fall.
