Gaillardia can be divided. There are about 30 different species of annuals and perennials.

Rudbeckia and Coreopsis are in the same family - Asteraceae. So they are related!

The problem with using "common names" for plants is that common names are different throughout the country. That's why using the botanical name is less confusing. But not everyone knows the botanical name. I try to use both when describing a plant.

Rudbeckia has several different common names: Black eyed susan, orange coneflower, and cutleaf coneflower. One of it's true botantical names is Rudbeckia hirta which is the the black-eyed susan, the most common Rudbeckia. There are several cultivars of this particular species: Irish Eyes, Marmalade, Becky Mixed.

Coreopsis has a large species of over 80 different annuals and perennials. The common name is Tickseed or Coreopsis.

Echinacea purpurea is purple coneflower. It used to be called Rudbeckia purpurea but the name was changed at one of the Horticulture Congresses where they change the Genus of plants. That could account for the confusion. They are closely related to the Rudbeckias.

My husband and I were just talking about this subject.

He is totally flummoxed by drug names. Each drug has a generic name and a Brand name. People in general gravitate to
identifying and communicating with one or the other.

For example--Tylenol is acetaminophen. So when I ask him to get me a "Tylenol" when he is upstairs, he looks at the bottle and sees acetaminophen and gets totally confused (it is a generic bottle). He is very resistant to learning these names, and we have constant issues over it.

I can handle the drug names (I HAVE to). But I gravitate to the easy name when I am not at work. I can also do many plants that way...Rudbeckia/black-eyed Susans etc.

But where BOTH of us converge is with ROCKS/geology!

I just bought a rock book to take up north, to help ID some of the nice ones I have found there and put in my rock garden. We live on a privately owned family island...there are millions
of ROCKS...
EVERY single rock has a really NEW name.... and I can't for the life of me remember them. They all have -----ITE on the end of their names.
examples...Andesite, spilite,Syenite, pyroxenite, serpentinite, norite, dolerite, etc etc!

This is a rather small book with very large pictures! I thought I could handle it...but NOPE...it puts me to sleep literally after 10 or so pages, and I don't recall the names the next day!
My husband took geology in college, and he had the same problem! So we have both hit a wall, when it comes to rock names! LOLOLOL

I've only learned a few of the Latin names of my plants. I certainly don't know the majority.

Geology stumped me in college as well until the lab class. Fortunately I had a very good instructor who loved hands on field trips! I took Geology of Nevada and then again in Idaho! It helped me with Botany as well as plant ID, not sure why but it certainly helped connect all the dots! Maybe it's because certain plants grow with certain rocks/terrain! Now I use rocks/boulders in my landscape plans and they are just big rocks! Some things I choose to retain, some things I don't (I think they leak out of these holes I have in my brain!)

I certainly understand the frustration with generic/brand names in your world MrsD. It can get very confusing -- good example - Provigil. Why the heck does it have to be called one thing in the US and something else in Canada??? I digress, as usual.

I do very well with botanical names of plants. It's the common names that get me into trouble. Sort of like a local dialect.

I was required to learn the botanical names otherwise I would not have gotten through school! Each week for two years we had a plant ID test and on this test was 50 plants and we had 4 classes - perennials, annuals, shrubs, and trees. We had to know the family, genus, species, and cultivar (if there was one). They had to be spelled correctly and written correctly (italics as required and quotes as required). Made for a lot of memorization...my poor little MS brain with holes struggled some weeks.

I used to draw pictures on my test paper of my brain with holes and my arm with the IV in it and hope my instructor would be kind!

Good luck with the rock identification! Maybe you can join a local rockhound club and get some help that way! I know my dad belonged to one and that's how he came to be very knowledgeable about rocks!

The only rocks I know are the kind in jewelry. I'm pretty good with those.



I'm starting to learn the botanical names of plants simply because - after some 20 yrs, sheesh - I have so many plants some are the same family but diff members. Like 4 campanulas. Botanical is the easier way to keep them straight.

Speaking of those, I finally snagged Canterbury bells, Campanula medium.

It's supposed to get what, over 2' tall. It's about 3 inches and blooming. Now that's funny.

The flowers are big as the plant.

I have an fuschia in a hanging basket & I read to pluck off the dead flowers. Immediatly behind the flower is a little thicker part to that stem. Am I supposed to take that off too? I think I read that you are supposed to take it off or some of the plant's energy will go to making berries or something, instead of flowers? Can you tell me what is right? Thanks

Dead head or pinch them all the way back to the leaf axial being careful not to pinch off any new buds that may be forming.

Okay, a couple cool tips to share...

Tie a few sprigs of fresh lavandar into a bundle, and place in your clean birdbath water. It won't clean it if the water is already growing algea, but it will keep it from getting funky. Replace the bundle weekly.

Pick up a cheap carbine at the dollar store, then punch a hole at the top of your garden gloves. You can clip your gloves together and hang them from your belt or a loop on your jeans, even a bucket handle (I carry a bucket for tools and weeds). Keeps gloves paired and handy.

Plastic coffee can, 3 in One oil, and paper towels. Put the oil and separated paper towels in the coffee can. Way easy to clean/lube your garden tools with cheap home-made wipes.

If you are getting ready to plant your patio pots or hanging baskets, don't forget the fertilizer. A good time released fertlizer is osmocote. It lasts about 3 months. Just mix a small about (read the label for specific amounts) in with the soil in the pot and your plants will be happy and thrive.

I also add a table spoon of miracle grow fertlizer to a gallon of water each time I water my hanging baskets or patio pots simply because a lot of the water leaches out and you lose a lot of nutrients.

Don't forget to dead head your plants to keep the blooming all summer long!

What is that fabulous smell outside early this morning?

Nope, it's not dryer sheets from the neighbor's laundry.

I thought maybe it was the Russian Olive trees up the canyon a bit, which also have a wonderful aroma in June. But I usually notice them in the evenings.

This is a different fragrance. The lilac and snowball blossoms are dead, so they're not in the running. The beautiful flowering crabapples are history. Can't figure out what it might be.

I don't normally get up before dawn, so asked my DH if it always smelled so good. He doesn't have that great of a smeller, but said, "No."

Maybe a conglomeration? Once it started getting light, the grass smell took over. Wish I could capture it in a bottle and save it!

This is a cultivar from Europe that has escaped, and is mostly
wild now. But I have some, and typically its fragrance is strongest in the morning and evening.

Or your neighbors have some Nicotiana? This flowering tobacco is lovely too.