These plants are similar to daisies but have bright yellow-orange flowers with a black center. Growing as annuals or short-lived perennials, black-eyed Susans are native to prairies and open woodlands and are attractive to both birds and butterflies.

Black-eyed Susans are native to North America and one of the most popular wildflowers grown. They tend to blanket open fields, often surprising the passerby with their golden-yellow beauty.

These plants range in height, with some flowers able to reach eight feet tall, while they spread to a mere three feet. Rudbeckia hirta is an upright annual (sometimes biennial or perennial) growing 30–100 cm (12–39 in) tall by 30–45 cm (12–18 in) wide.

It has alternate, mostly basal leaves 10–18 cm long, covered by coarse hair, with stout branching stems and daisy-like, composite flower heads appearing in late summer and early autumn.

In the species, the flowers are up to 10 cm (4 in) in diameter, with yellow ray florets circling conspicuous brown or black, dome-shaped cone of many small disc florets.

However, extensive breeding has produced a range of sizes and colours, including oranges, reds and browns.