'Tall Yellow Flowers'

Frustrated birders refer to those small unidentified sparrows that flit through the bushes as 'Little Brown Jobbies'.  I refer to the large number of confusing varieties of flowers that form the backbone of our garden at this time of year as 'Tall Yellow Flowers'.

Every year I try to sort these flowers out as best I can, and each year I think the different ones we have become a little clearer to me (while in places they spread and take over the garden)!  This year I've pondered the internet again and tried to sort out the species we have.

The first ones are the tallest, and I've decided that they are Cut-leaved Coneflowers, Rudbeckia laciniata.  They are huge, 3 large patches of them at the back of the garden, nearly 8 feet tall, and in clumps 4 feet wide.  They reach far above the decorative fence I built at the back of the garden.

The second group we have around is the Grey-headed Coneflower, Ratibida pinnata.  It's almost as tall, but has a brown flower head rather than a green one, and much thinner, lacier leaves.

It also self-seeds ferociously, planting itself all around the garden if you let it.  I thought I had got rid of it this year, but here's one of the surreptitious plants, bursting into bloom above the fence.

The first year it invaded, I dug them all up and transplanted them to two back corners of the meadow.  Now it's self-seeding out there, among the much shorter Goldenrod, towering above everything else with its bright yellow blooms.

We've got some nice Brown-eyed Susans too, Rudbeckia hirta.  They are in full bloom now, but they do tend to stay confined and spread a little without self-seeding far.

They form a really nice patch, and are only about 2 feet tall.  These ones are right outside the back door by the patio.

And then we have the False Sunflowers, Heliopsis helianthoides.  These ones are just about over now, and have been blooming for about a month.  They're about 3-4 feet tall, and they do spread, taking over corners that get larger each year.

You can see them on the far left and far right of this picture, showing our main flower garden.  The two Coneflowers described above are the tall still-green plants at the back, about 3 weeks ago.

I know you don't care about Latin names, nor do I really, but I'm satisfied I finally know what the four different 'Tall Yellow Flower' species that we have are.