Rudbeckia fulgida "Goldsturm"
This plant had been in the same container for three years, and I felt sure that the reason for its poor performance was that it had not only run out of nutrients, but also had become pot-bound - in other words the container had become clogged with a mass of roots. Perennials like this do need to be dug up, divided and re-planted every so often, so that's what I decided to do today.
I tipped the container out onto my trusty groundsheet (one of my most useful bits of gardening equipment!), and immediately my suspicions were confirmed:
A solid mass of roots!
Nevertheless, there was a lot of good planting material too.
There were perhaps 30 little plantlets - almost like a whole series of rooted cuttings.
So I chose a few of the best ones, and planted them back in the original container, but with fresh compost.
There were loads of good plants and I was loath to chuck them away, so I also put some into 6-inch pots.
Six, in fact.
Even the less-good ones were not discarded. I stuck them into a little vacant patch in the shrub border (no photo).
So what do you reckon? Do you think I'll have good Rudbeckias next year?
