Last summer Clint posted this comment about Thompson & Morgan’s Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’, the first red rudbeckia: “I love your site and would like to know if you would be informing your readers about the disaster known as Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’. I planted seeds of this and they are UGLY… Everyone is laughing about this much-hyped plant at Dave's Garden. Nobody I know has a bloom that looks like the photos used to sell them.” I heard similar comments from other people.

Well, as I rushed to a meeting through the RHS garden at Wisley near London the other day I passed some plants of ‘Cherry Brandy’ – and they looked great. A really lovely colour. Here’s my quick snap. I saw it looking impressive in a suburban front garden recently, too, while stuck in the traffic. And today the images posted over on Dave’s Garden also mostly look pretty good.

So while some people were certainly disappointed last year, Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’ does seem to be a valuable new colour break.

You can find out more about Rudbeckia 'Cherry Brandy' over on my RHS New Plants blog.

In North America you can order seeds from Thompson & Morgan.

In Britain you can order seeds or you can order young plants from Thompson & Morgan.