Not with this plant in particular, but it happens with many things.

I have 'Autumn Colors' also, along with 'Maya' and 'Sonora'. My first ever Rudbeckias from seed. So far, Maya and Sonora are blooming, but Autumn Colors are just now budding out. Their foliage is different than the other two as well, kinda lance shaped leaves. I cant wait to see their blooms!

I have my Rudbeckias on a North facing bed, surrounding my vegtable garden. In front of them, I have a huge mass planting of Dahlberg Daisy. As it turns out, all Rudbeckias and Dahlberg blooms are facing south west, particularly the Dahlbergs. When you walk around the garden from the east, you see no blooms. When you walk around from the west, WOW!!! Is this common for Rudbeckias and Dahlbergs?

Mine were planted from seed last year and didn't bloom then but are blooming for the first time this year and they are absolutely beautiful. Such unusual colors, very vigorous. Sad to hear that they don't come back true. I wasn't sure if they were a hybrid or not. I will buy some more seed as they really put on a spectacular show in the garden.

A couple new flowerheads today have a slight brown ring in the center. Nowhere near what they used to have though, and the rest are solid gold. I agree that it's worth buying more. They are just gorgeous. :)

Rudbeckia Hirta is like that, it will often revert to the basic species and does seed all over the place. If you keep them carefully deadheaded you can sometimes get a 2nd year out of an individual plant, last year's prairie suns came back very strong. Various types have been in my garden for more than 20 years, and I love all the forms. Every couple of years a I regrow one of the named forms and add it in. I wouldn't be without this plant because no matter what else goes wrong this species always comes through.

They are still very beautiful. Thicker fancier flowerhead than the R. fulgida, and the R. fulgidas won't bloom till late summer. So that's a plus.

I found one new flowerhead today on the R. hirtas that has a red ring. The two ringed blooms I've found are near the center of the plant. All the outer blooms are solid :) It's very interesting!

Indian Summer comes back true from reseeds for me. However it doesn't have the coloring of the other Gloriousos. This is my first years trying the other kinds.

I purchased Autumn Colors seed from Jelitto. They are blooming second year. Gorgeous colors. Jelitto claims their strain is stable. They also claim its perennial. It sounds like from the comments it behaves like a biennial. I knew Gloriosas were shortlived like that, I've also seen Rudbeckias that come back year after year. I'll let you know next year. Also, I'm growing Rudbeckia h. Cappucino (new for 2008 and a gold medal winner). I'll let you know how that comes out next year too.