A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum advice re annual rudbeckia overload?

Apologies for double-posting; I'm a new member and didn't realize I was posting in the "New Member" forum, which isn't where I think my post belongs. I can't figure out how to change the forum once you've posted a new topic, so am repeating the posting here:

One of my beds was overrun this year by annual rudbeckia that grew from seed and crowded out other plants. Now that it's nearly fall in zone 4, I'm going to clean up the bed for the winter. Ordinarily I would pull all the rudbeckia and put them in the compost, as I want the bed back for planting next year.

This year I've been reading about "green manure" and cover crops, so it occurs to me there might be a benefit to just turning the rudbeckia over into the soil to compost in place. I'm not aware of anything about rudbeckia that would provide any particular benefit to the soil, but my thought is that it would at least be an addition of organic matter.

QUESTION:

Any thoughts? Is this inadvisable for any reason? If I do it, should I remove any flowers first so as not to repeat the problem next year, or is there a depth from which seeds wouldn't germinate?

This is my first post, so I'm looking forward to responses!

Those rudbeckia's are going to spread by roots and seeds...you're best to pull them out if you want them gone. Last year I had to fully tear apart a small flower bed to remove them..soil and all.

Also, if any of the flowers were allowed to set seed, you will most likely get more seedlings next year. However, they are usually easy to identify and just pull up beofre they get too big. Or dig them up and pot them and give them to your neighbors!

Thank you for the response!