By Emma Murphy, Master Gardener
Last year around this time I wrote a blog about reclaiming a garden bed from the dreaded ditch lily (Hemerocallis fulva), now considered an invasive species by many organizations including Ontario Parks and the US Fish & Wildlife Service and the U. S. National Park Service. If you’ve ever struggled with this plant you know what I mean.
The other plant growing in our large Lakefield garden when we moved in (more than 20 years ago) is what I was told was called an ‘outhouse plant‘. I eventually learned that the Latin name for this plant (also called golden glow or tall coneflower) was Rudbeckia laciniata “Hortensia”.
It’s a cultivar of our native Rudbeckia laciniata, also known as Cut Leaf Coneflower or Green Headed Coneflower, which has a lovely simple daisylike flower (whereas the Hortesia cultivar is a double ‘puffy’ flower).
The outhouse plant was pleasant enough so I let them grow for years in what I call our ‘back 40’, meaning our naturalized garden area at the back of the property, behind the cedar rail fence. Yes they were tall and gangly, and fell over in thunderstorms. Yes they spread, but they gave the prolific Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) and New England Asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) a run for their money in August/September. And hey, I had more than enough to deal with in the rest of my more organized garden!
However, as I started to learn more about both native (and invasive) plants over the years I realized that I might have a problem. The outhouse plant isn’t a huge problem per se, as it can be controlled through digging, Chelsea chop etc., but its double shape means that it offers minimal benefit as food for our pollinators. And I wanted plants that not only look beautiful but have an ecological benefit. So I sat in my hammock and pondered.
(he’s watching on the right)
As a result of winter sowing (first time this past winter – highly recommend!) I have lots of new native plant seedlings, including some of the ones I featured in my May blog – A Few of My Favourite Native Plants – Culver’s Root (Veronicastrum Virginicum), Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis), and Green Headed Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata). I certainly have lots of the native Rudbeckia, as well as Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), Giant Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea), and Purple Giant Hyssop (Agastache scrophulariifolia).
So the clearing of the outhouse plant began in earnest last week, and by the end of two afternoons I had an area to work with.
Definitely not light work, but not too difficult either compared to other plants. The area is now clear, and I’ll be putting in Green Headed Coneflower (the native), Boneset, Giant Ironweed, and Purple Giant Hyssop. They can all tolerate a little competition (a good thing for native plants, especially tall ones) and basic soils.
If I have space I might even mix in some shorter plants like native Bush honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera) and Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) in at the front as they can tolerate dry conditions. The area is mostly sunny all day. Unfortunately my beloved Cardinal Flower and Turtlehead are too dry for this location.
We’ll see how this experiment works and check back in with you all on another blog. If it works we’ll expand into another area of outhouse plant that I recently cut down, but haven’t removed yet…a work in progress. There are only so many hours in my (still working part time) day. And I still need to get that Canada Ggoldenrod under control…but that’s another story…
The Peterborough & Area Master Gardeners 
So now I know my unnamed flower is “outhouse plant”! (And we don’t even have an outhouse.) Guess if anyone asks I’ll just give the botanical name, sounds better.
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My mother used to have Golden Glow in her garden when I was growing up in rural upstate NY. I fondly remember the sunny nodding heads of the flowers and it’s makes me smile to think of my 5 year old self gathering bunches of it to make bouquets for Mama. I’ve been searching for it for years in garden centers to no avail, and I guess I now know why! Call me a sentimental fool, but I’d love to have some again and I have the perfect spot for it, a naturalized patch of border behind my greenhouse and shed. It appears I’m two years too late to “plant share” with this blogger… does anyone know where I can get some now?
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Hi Genie, the blog post was on one part of my garden. As I mentioned I had another area that was cut down but not removed – it comes out this summer, as I wish to replace it with the native version of this plant because it’s so much better for our pollinators – they will certainly work hard to try and reach the nectar and pollen in the double flower but won’t be able to do it, which is just a waste of their energy.
The double is certainly pretty and I understand the memories it evokes for many people. It’s a very old cultivar though and not sold in garden centres anymore. If you’re in the Peterborough area I will give you some if you wish, along with some of the native – perhaps you can plant both?
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Thank you, that’s so kind. I’d love to visit but it would be an 8 hour drive, not including whatever delay I might encounter at the border. 😦 sorry I am so long in replying… this year has been a whirlwind and I don’t know where the time has gone but in any case, it’s been a while since I checked my WordPress…
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I love them …they do get tall and fall over…has anyone tried cutting them in half while growing to see if they would develop a stronger stem?
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Yes I do the Chelsea Chop on them about now (early June) and that helps with the flopping over. It works for both the straight species and the Hortensia cultivar.
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I came across this while looking up to see if I remember the name of the plant I am seeing out our dining room window on the east side of our house. When I first started buying native plants, I bought a number of cultivars. We live in a city in SE Nebraska, but don’t have much lawn. This clump is a bit wider than when I planted it, maybe ten years ago, but it has not self sown or spread like yours did. I wonder why. Maybe it’s because of our location.
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having so much time before planning to tackle the second half of this project, I’d recommend tarping the area either with an actual tarp or with a thick layer of wood chips. I do this often for more traditional perennial weeds.
What about the newer cultivars of echinacea that do have the open centers such as the pollinations mix? I’ve asked my fair share of master gardeners around here about the pros and cons of planting cultivars of natives and they always seem stumped. Any suggestions for an article so I can read up for myself?
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Hi Danielle, thanks for your comment. Personally I don’t like to tarp – I prefer the arborist woodchips approach.
But actually since I wrote this blog in 2022 I have now finished removing almost all the double Hortensia, planting immediately afterwards with the other plants I mentioned in my blog (Boneset, NY Ironweed, and Purple Giant Hyssop) and some woodchips. I needed to wait a year or so before adding the native Green Headed Coneflower (because of course the leaves are just the same as the Golden Glow) so that I could make sure I had got everything.
In terms of your echinacea question, there is still so much we don’t know (and hasn’t been researched). Nativars and cultivars are really the same thing, except that the nativar is a cultivar of a native plant. And depending on what source you look at, neither E. purpurea or E. pallida straight species are native to Ontario. The Mt Cuba Center has done some interesting trials (although not with the Pollynation mixes you mention)
A couple of links for further reading?
2020 – Native Species or Cultivars of Native Plants–Does it Matter?
2019 – Native Plant Cultivars 101
2018 – 2020 – Echinacea for the Mid-Atlantic Region (Mt Cuba Trials
2021 article on Echinacea Trials at Mt. Cuba Center
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When we lived on Centennial Lake in Renfrew County, I planted some “Outhouse” beauties. They were so colourful, but, in a short time the deer had demolished them all.
I now live in Kemptville, ON with a postage sized lot so no Outhouse plants here. Thank you for your interesting comments! – Heather
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