Yes.

Seeds saved from your own plants might look like anything and everything. They might be any color or combination of colors. They might not be too pretty, or might be the prettiest, healthiest plants ever. You just don't know.

Growing from saved seed is fun, because you never know what you'll get. But if you really want a certain one, say Cherry Brandy, it's probably best to use new commercial seeds.

Karen

Pretty much. Only a few of my cherry brandy came back red the second year from collected seed.

I know they are annuals, but a few annuals seem to be perennial here. Will they be true or cross pollinated if they act as perennials? My Goldstrum is perennial but I'm new to the others.

My Cherry Brandy and some other Rudbeckia hirta varieties overwintered just fine. They grow new foliage every time it warms up just a bit. They were the first to bloom this spring.

Rudbeckia fulgida is the botanical name of Goldstrum, so it's only capable of crossing with other R. fulgida strains.

Rudbeckia hirta is the botanical name of Cherry Brandy, Irish Eyes, Cherokee Sunset, and a whole host of other varieties. Those will cross pollinate, even on the same plant. I rarely get two that produce the same flowers.

Rudbeckia hirtas are very...weird. They are often sold as annuals, but are technically perennials. Kind of confusing for me this year. It has been my first year to winter sow, and for half the year I thought I was growing R. hirtas as perennials, but they don't come back for many people. As far as I can gather, they are perennials, but are often short-lived, so you never know if they'll overwinter or not. My R. hirtas this year bloomed fantastically their first year from seed, and that helps explain why they are often treated as annuals. There seems to be many more varieties of R. hirta than the other species, like R. fulgida, R. triloba, R. lancianata (sp?), R. maxima, etc. All those species seem to be very dependable perennials. The R. hirtas are the one category that aren't dependable if you want a perennial. You, however, aren't as cold as we are. Maybe they'll come back for you! R. hirtas are usually only hardy to zone 5, and I'm on the 5/4 border. I will be very interested to see how many come back next year. I'll also sow many new ones, just to be sure. The hunk-o-seedlings really did put on a fantastic show this year in our bad drought and terribly high temps (high for NH, that is!).

Mine seem to overwinter and come back true every year. This year I was surprised by the appearance of Cherokee Sunset which I dumped from a ws jug two years ago. What a nice surprise.

liza070831, how many different ones do you grow?
I hate to have to buy new seeds every year as I plan to grow 6 or 7 kinds each year, and I know they don't come true from saved seeds.