There is a flower, at the mention of which many designers and too advanced florists contemptuously wrinkle their nose. In the horticultural literature, there are phrases like: “If you finally find the strength to part with your grandmother’s inheritance in the form of gold balls and other low-value plants…” Why did the irreplaceable, in my opinion, flower, the irreplaceable companion of the garden, become ostracized?
And you will find another equally joyful, unpretentious, long-blooming and also well-standing in a cut plant!
They might have told me that it was a symbol of carelessness and sloppiness. But this is an omission of the host, and not the properties of the flower. Yes, tall stems require a garter, and the appearance of the plant largely depends on how beautifully and neatly it is made. Attach a beautiful support to the Golden Ball, without “strangling” it, like a sheaf, with a piece of clothesline — and you will not recognize it! You can make an openwork “vase” (from rods or wire), and the “bouquet” in it will stand for at least two months, especially if you remove the faded baskets.
Yes, this plant is sick with powdery mildew — and what, phlox and perennial asters do not get sick? Is it possible that in England gardeners and designers have turned away from, say, alchemilla and foxglove, because they are outdated and ubiquitous? And Alchemilla doesn’t have powdery mildew?
The disparaging attitude towards Rudbeckia laciniata is completely incomprehensible and has no justification other than our eternal denial of our own values for the sake of fickle “high fashion”. Most of the books on floriculture in the section on Rudbeckia certainly mention among the favorites ‘Goldball’.
In many gardens, from June to frost, an honest Golden ball covers unattractive fences, compost heaps, and sheds. JN grows in a prominent place-at the entrance to the plot, next to a large spruce tree. Throughout the second half of summer and autumn, its inflorescences look even brighter against the background of needles.
You can place it behind dahlias, phlox of harmonizing shades. And what a “late” mixborder can be made by planting Golden Balls and another kind of Rudbeckia in the background, a two-meter-long R. nitida along with heleniums, perennial asters, chrysanthemums of different species and varieties. You will get an irresistible combination of yellow, golden-brown, lilac-blue, pink and white colors!
Just imagine that all gardeners listened to fashion trends. Immediately, the sunny village front gardens will be extinguished, the golden lights that illuminated even the dark corners of the garden in the gloomy autumn will disappear. And no other flower can replace their faded light… Let there be a shining firework of golden balls in our gardens!