Black-eyed Susan can be used for landscaping and in wildflower gardens. This plant is a biennial forb and 1 foot tall with yellow ray flowers and dark brown spherical centers. Sometimes flower stalks will appear in the first summer, but typically Black-eyed Susan blooms from June to September of the second year. Evening primrose is a biennial. Its flowers are yellow with four petals, in a spike at the ends of the stalks, and open widest at night or on dark, overcast days.
Seeds germinate and make a root the first season, then flower the second season.
The roots and leaves have been used as a vegetable. The roots have also been used as a treatment for hemorrhoids, and the leaves as a poultice for skin eruptions. Evening primrose seed oil is used today in treating eczema, migraines, arthritis, diabetes, benign breast disease, high blood pressure, and as a dietary supplement. A native, summer annual or sometimes biennial reaching 1 to 3 feet in height with prominent white and yellow flowers. All leaves are prominently toothed and sparingly hairy.