Six months with Black-eyed Susan — what I actually learned

I brought Black-eyed Susan home six months ago with high hopes and almost no knowledge. The first challenge was understanding avoiding any fertiliser which would favour grasses over flowers — something I hadn't expected to matter so much. Once I got that right, the whole thing settled down.

I grow it in a container with a meadow mix for a balcony and the position has been ideal. self-seeding and naturalising without annual replanting is what keeps drawing me back to it. peak flowering from early to midsummer was the moment that made me glad I persisted through the learning curve. One honest warning: annual weed competition overwhelming slow-establishing flowers caught me off guard in month two. Stay on top of it from the start.