Anna Maria Richards
Gardening is one of the things that many are doing now. Some do it for leisure, some for money, some even for therapy. “Flowers are stress relievers,” we often hear this saying. Why so? Gardeners say it gives peace, creates balance, promotes inner tranquility, and so forth.
So, what are these flowers that give you such an experience? How would you know if that particular flower you love will provide the same effect as others? You can grow several flowers in your garden, and there may be a single species that particularly excites a particular feeling in you. Because like humans, every flower is unique, and every flower offers extraordinary beauty.
Best Flower To Grow
If you had just started gardening, it is a mix of multiple trials to succeed in gardening. Indeed, it is like a trial of everything. You are trying on the soil, observing the climate, guessing on the nutrients to give, and of course, the flowers to grow.
Growing a particular flower species does a lot of learning, like producing a flowering plant, a fern, conifers, or succulent plants. If you opt for all flowering plants in your garden, you may decide if you plant daisies, orchids, roses, and many more.
To give you more options, you can add traditional black-eyed susans to your list to bring beauty to your garden. Black-eyed Susan is as dainty as the others, but there is a unique characteristic of the flower that makes it profoundly beautiful and makes it stand out among the rest.
About Black-eyed Susan
The beautiful Black-eyed Susan is a member of the sunflower family native of North America. The flower perfectly grows in home gardens or meadows. It has a daisy-like flower with an attractive dark central seed case that perfectly contrasts with its yellow petals. This perennial plant has the scientific name Rudbeckia hirta and is also known by different other names like Yellow daisy, Ox-Eye Daisy, Brown Betty, and Poor Land Daisy.
Rudbeckia hirta has four botanical varieties, and each is endemic to a place in the United States. You can find the Floridana variety in Florida, while the Angustifolia is found in Texas, North Carolina, and the southeastern part of the US. You can find the Hirta variety in the eastern US and the most widespread in almost all in the continental US is the Pulcherrima variety.
All flower varieties quickly adapt to clay, sandy soil, and loam soil with a pH of less than 6.8. It thrives best in a bit moist to moderately dry soil condition. The flower best blooms in full sun; thus, some of the varieties start to bloom in mid-summer, while others follow a bit later. And it keeps giving flowers until the temperature drops to freezing fall.
Why Plant Black-eyed Susan?
Look further to the grandeur and magnificence of the flower. Black-eyed Susan also has a very impressive ethnobotanical characteristic.
A Pharmacy in the Garden
The earliest humans depend on plants for primary existence, not only for food but for medicines. Many plants prove their usefulness, and black-eyed Susan is among the many plants that give sophisticated use in medicinal benefit.
1. As immune system booster
Several species of the plant have an immune system-boosting property. It has an immunostimulatory activity that comes from the roots of the plant. Rudbeckia speciosa variant gives the most potent root extract among the many species of the plant, giving a most potent immunological activity for humans.
2. As Medicines
The Rudbeckia subtomentosa species has a significant effect in destroying Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis. Also, the black-eyed Susan is famous for its treatment of colds and flu as known to the Cherokee and Potawatomi, the original inhabitants of North America. They also used wash leaves for deworming.
Some other medicinal uses of the plant’s roots are healing sores, earaches, swelling, and snakebites. The natives used derivatives from the stem, roots, and leaves. They use these in juice and extract form for these applications. Meanwhile, the diuretic and astringent characteristic of the plant makes it a potent herb from the root tea.
A Color for the Art
Surprisingly, black-eyed Susan gives vibrant colors to art. The mature flower heads are boiled and cooked enough to extract the dye properties of the flower. The natural dyeing and different dyeing process levels can get colors like yellow, beige, and brown. And the most fantastic color that it gives is the shade of pale or sage green color. The dyes are used to color your yarns, fabrics, and other art pieces.
Takeaway
Many are becoming plant enthusiasts during these times of staying at homes. Plants that they grow vary in different varieties and several species. But what stands out is the Rudbeckia hirta, also known as Black-eyed Susan.
Not only is the plant beautiful when in bloom, but most of all, the plant has diverse and astounding uses in the area of medicine and art. Black-eyed susans make the perfect reason for the flower best to grow in your garden.
