Big, bold, and beautiful Cabbage Leaf Coneflower, Rudbeckia maxima, features classic yellow black eyed Susan flowers on tall 5-7′ stems. Its remarkable flowers are made of yellow petals that surround a central dark brown cone that can range from 2″ to a massive 6″ high. The tall stalks shoot out of its fantastic powder blue foliage. You’ll want to grow this beauty alone just for its gorgeous paddle-shaped blue leaves, which can grow a whopping 24″ long and 10″ wide. Even though it gets incredibly tall, it only grows about 2-4′ wide, making it an ideal choice for a showy specimen.

Cabbage Leaf Coneflower adds a charming and stately element to perennial borders, pollinator, cutting, meadow, and cottage gardens. Deer resistant. Don’t be surprised when you see many flying beauties visiting. An important pollinator plant, it is adored by butterflies and other pollinators, including beneficial bees. Goldfinches love its tasty seeds. They are also known as Large Coneflower. Long-lived U.S. native perennial. A difficult-to-find variety that is rarely offered.

Growing instructions. Plant in full sun, at least 6 hours of sun a day. Plant in soil that has been amended with compost or other organic matter. Applying a starter fertilizer at planting will encourage root growth. Although drought tolerant, for best blooming keep consistently watered, especially when plants are setting up buds and blooming, and during dry spells. A well-behaved plant. It can be divided every 3-4 years. Cut spent foliage back to 4-12″ to encourage a flush of new growth.

A Missouri Botanical Garden Plant of Merit. Plants selected for their outstanding quality and dependable performance for the lower Midwest. They grow consistently well in St Louis, Missouri, central and southern Illinois, and the Kansas City Metro area.