A Sunflower????

[roadrunner]

I have this plant growing in my yard and I didn't plant it and I don't know what it is; however, it looks a lot like a type of sunflower, but not sure.

What's strange is that its leaves has hair, but they are soft and feel something like velvet and it almost feels like the leaves are pockets of air

Here are some pics

 

[Sheal]

Possibly Rudbeckia.

 

[alp]

Rudbeckia or helenium .. Lovely! Better than sunflowers unless you want sunflowers!

 

[roadrunner]

Thanks all, that does get me in the neighborhood; I can see it being part of the Rudbeckia or Helenium genus, but curious if anyone recognizes the species?

I've looked thru a bunch of Mugshots already with no luck. What's also curious is that it seems like a cultivated species, but I've never planted anything like it before and it actually sprouted outside any area I plant in -- it's in my grass.

It also seems like the flowers take a very long time to open and the petals seem to be eaten away or otherwise destroyed after blooming. FWIW the native bees seem to like the flowers and I saw this one this morning...she seemed to have slept there all night, she wasn't collecting nectar/pollen.

 

[Sheal]

@JBtheExplorer I wonder if you can identify this plant please?

 

[MaryMary]

What's also curious is that it seems like a cultivated species, but I've never planted anything like it before and it actually sprouted outside any area I plant in -- it's in my grass.

Maybe a seed got blown in when Irma passed through.

 

[alp]

Rudbeckia as someone else says. Roadrunner: really love you captured the different colours on the crown of the flowers. Wonder if that's the way bugs see the crown - Purplish violet - stunning.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

@roadrunner This hairy plant is Rudbeckia hirta. The most common "Black-eyed Susan" specie. It's a biennial and will die after its flowering year, but it can self seed pretty well (but not aggressively). I used them to help fill in my garden the first couple of years. It's a great plant for pollinators.

 

[roadrunner]

I guess it is the Rudbeckia hirta after looking at a lot of pictures. The issue is that the flower looks radically different (relatively speaking), not to mention that most pictures don't show the foliage, so all I have to go off are the flowers.

The issue I had with the pics of the flowers was that the petals on most Rudbeckia hirta were angled back from the center of the flower, much like a Coneflower. Also they seemed black, hence the name Black-eyed Susan (I guess); however, as alp pointed out, there is a very neat purple-thing going on...

My petals also don't last long and seem to be eaten away very quickly; however, this could just be something unique to my area.

After looking at a lot of pics of the Rudbeckia hirta, I've seen some flowers that look like mine, but very few...

 

[alp]

The first flowers might not look exactly as those shown by gardening centre. I remember my first White Swan anemone which was a bit lopsided. @Logan pointed out that they might change after a few more blooms. Lo and behold, she was right.

 

[roadrunner]

I'll keep an eye on the flowers and I hope it's easy to collect the seeds, because I'll spread them in one of my growing areas.

 

[alp]

Yes, worth doing it. The colour is vibrant and it flowers for quite a while!

 

[roadrunner]

I'll keep an eye on the flowers and I hope it's easy to collect the seeds, because I'll spread them in one of my growing areas.

I've been the Black-eyed Susan plant for seeds, but not seeing any yet...seems to take a very long time for the flowers to go to seed.

BTW, I need to chop down another tree (my Live Oak), it's infested with ants and termites; this will basically remove all shade from my yard. So I will be spreading the seeds of the B-ES under the tree and see if it comes back. I'll probably start a new thread to document the chopping down of my live oak, which I plan to do in the fall/winter, when the sun isn't over head and intense. I will plant some more native trees, but they will all be very small.

To be continued....