Summer Arrives in Pennsylvania with a Blast of Hot Air

The first week of summer is proving to be a hot one here in central Pennsylvania. Temperatures in the 90s and bright all-day long sun is making for some limp plants by the end of the day. Late afternoon shade from the nearby trees starts their recovery, but a few need the cool of the night to fully be rejuvenated.

In early spring I transplanted a grouping of Rudbeckia from a bed next to the house to an open area in the front yard next to the lane. The root ball was huge and too heavy to carry on my shovel. I pulled on the old tops from last year’s growth to drag the plant onto a large plastic bag and then dragged the bag and plant over to the new area.

Rudbeckia doing well in full sun.
Rudbeckia doing well in full sun.
The centers of this Rudbeckia sp. are yellow and not chocolate-brown.
The centers of this Rudbeckia sp. are yellow and not chocolate-brown.

The reason I even mention this flower garden plant in this wildflower and wild herb blog is that earlier I reported it to be a black-eyed susan, which was obviously wrong.

The black-eyed susans are blooming though – I saw a bunch yesterday while out driving.

What else is blooming now?

Many of the summertime garden flowers are blooming – lilies, foxglove, dahlia, marigolds, larkspur, cactus – to our delight the list goes on and on!

3 thoughts on “Summer Arrives in Pennsylvania with a Blast of Hot Air”

  1. I found this flower while driving around near Los Angeles, but can’t find it for purchase with the name you provide in this post. Would you be willing to add additional facts re: name of this plant, if available to you?

    I can drive over to the LA County Arboretum and ask the Botanist, but I though I’d ask you first. 🙂

    Thanks!

    Patti

  2. Hey Patti,

    Did the yellow flowers have a dark center? If so, I’d call them Black-Eyed Susans. Otherwise, people should know these flowers as coneflowers. There are several types of coneflower that might be growing wild in California, so it might be worth a phone call to that botanist you mentioned. If you could describe the plant and where you saw it, chances are good that the botanist would be able to help you out with a name and perhaps a location to purchase such.

    The particular plant photographed in this post was given by a friend so I don’t know the exact name or cultivar. We enjoyed it until the aphids did it in!

    In the summertime I enjoy seeing the black-eyed Susans blooming along the road, too. I’m curious if you’ve seen it lately, or was that in the summer when you spied it?

  3. The flower I found looks exactly like the one in your photo here – yellow center and it was in someone’s front yard. I will look up coneflower and see if I can see it. Our arboretum is close by so and I can actually go over there and show the Botanist in person.

    I will let you know what I discover.

    Thanks!

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