Some common daisies that you are likely to come across are English daisies, Shasta Daisies and Oxeye Daisies. The Shasta variety is very similar to an English daisy, but it has a much larger yellow center and it also grows much taller.
The flowers themselves are also much larger. The Oxeye Daisy is also similar to the English daisy. It is a roadside wildflower that spreads easily and is very drought tolerant. It is known to be quite invasive. The English daisy is from the bellis genus. Shasta daisy and Oxeye daisies are from the leucanthemum family. The main considerations for growing the Shasta daisy plant is to give it plenty of sunlight and to take care to divide to contain the plant.
It naturalizes easily and can take over a garden if it is not maintained well. The plant likes to grow in full sun. This makes it ideal for borders in the middle of lawns or containers that sit in the center of sunny garden beds. This perennial likes a well draining, fertile soil, so preparing the soil before you plant is a must. A fertile soil contains major nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as well as smaller quantities of calcium, sulfur, iron, magnesium and other nutrients.
Silty soil is considered the most nutrient rich. Some ways to increase the fertility of your soil are:. Many local Department of Agriculture departments will analyze your soil for free , or you can purchase a soil testing kit from your local garden center, or online. Shasta daisies will grow easily from seeds. You can start seeds in peat pots indoors, or containers in a cold frame in autumn or early spring.
If you sow seeds directly into the garden, you can expect blooms the next year after the plant has been growing for a year. Garden centers sell containers of Shasta daisies each year.
Plant these in the spring for summer blooms. Space Shasta daisy plants feet apart to allow for their spreading nature. Be sure to give the plant a hole twice the diameter of the container you purchased it it.
Dwarf varieties such as Shasta Daisy Lacrosse can be planted a bit closer. It is also a bit more cold hardy since it will also grow in zone 4. Be sure to check out my list of other cold hardy perennial plants here. The plant flowers in summer and blooms until early fall. The flowers have showy heads with a large center yellow area. Depending on the variety, there is quite a bit of variation in the petals.
Shasta daisies have an upright habit with stiff stems and flowers that sit above the foliage. Shorter dwarf varieties are better in the front of a garden beds but the taller plants will form big clumps that add a backdrop to other perennials.
The petals of shasta daisy flowers are nyctinastic — They open up and close at night. This perennial is quite drought friendly. It definitely does not like soggy soil or wet feet and will easily rot if you over water it. The plant can actually tolerate limited periods of drought. This pretty plant with its perky blooms is a hardy perennial that will come back even after freezing winters in cold hardiness zones Even though the plant is a perennial, it is quite short lived.
Many only last just a few year. To offset the short life span, plant new plants each year. This yearly planting will ensure that the plant will continue to naturalize and grace your garden setting. Caring for Shasta Daisies means that you must put deadheading on your list of summer chores. Deadheading is the process of removing the blooms that have finished flowering.
To do this task, just cut the flower stem off at the base of the plant. There is a daisy for every garden! Daisies come in all shapes and sizes. Though I mostly think of white when the term Daisy is used there are many colors and types. Planting daisies is as easy as tossing some seeds in Fall. The many varieties make them such an easy flower to grow in your cottage garden. Here we are going to stick to the Shasta daisy because that is what I have grown the most of.
Come on over and let me share how to grow daisies. Disclosure : This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info. The photos below are called Crazy Daisy.
Heirloom Shasta Daisy seeds are available here or buy the plants. The Shasta Daisy is a classic perennial, here in my garden, Zone 8, they happily spread by seed of their own volition but are not hard to dig up if they sprout where I do not want them.
Shasta daisies tend to bloom in clumps from 2 to 3 feet tall and 1 to 2 feet wide. Daisies are great for cutting and summer bouquets. Alaska Shasta Daisy is the most famous cultivar of this beautiful European wildflower. Large white flowers perfect for cutting. There are newer hybrids that promise longer blooming times, for example Daisy May, Amazing Daisies from Proven Winners.
Regularly cutting and deadheading is what keeps them blooming. There is the first flush of tons of blooms and then the later blooms come in spurts and not as abundantly as at first but they do keep blooming.
Something I cannot say enough is good soil is key to growing most flowers, click on over to read how I started building my soil. You can direct seed daisies in Fall. For more info on that I have a full article on sowing seeds in Fall.
You can also Winter sow daisies or you can buy plants at your local garden center. Space your daisy seedlings or plant 1 to 2 feet apart.
Dig a hole about twice the size as the diameter of the container it is growing in. Place in planting hole making sure the top of the root ball is level with the soil surface. Do not overwater, this will cause overly tall, gangly plants that need staking. African daisies bloom best in full sun. They can tolerate partial shade, but this will likely cause them to produce fewer flowers. Moreover, the blooms generally open in response to light and close at night and during overcast weather.
African daisies prefer organically rich soil with sharp drainage and a slightly acidic soil pH. Add compost or other organic matter to the soil at the time of planting to improve drainage and add nutrients. Although somewhat drought tolerant once established, African daisies still need at least 1 inch of water per week to grow their best. During periods of drought or intense heat, the plants will slow down and go dormant.
Aim to keep the soil evenly moist. But don't overwater, as soggy soil can encourage diseases such as root rot. African daisies prefer mild weather, which is when they bloom most profusely. They can handle nighttime temperatures down to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit, though frost can damage or kill them.
Humidity typically isn't an issue for them, as long as they have good air circulation and proper watering and soil drainage. These flowers like a lot of food to grow and bloom at their best. Besides mixing compost into the soil, apply a fertilizer for flowering plants monthly throughout the growing season. There are dozens of African daisy species and varieties, including:. The majority of African daisy varieties are hybrids and won't grow from seeds saved from the plants.
But you can easily propagate your plants by cuttings. Thank you, Richard. Unless, of course, you want the plant to produce seed, in which case you would want to let the flowers mature fully before cutting them down. Question not comment. Want to move daisy from under tree. September in Ohio.
Will it survive? Yes, early fall is a fine time to move things in the garden. I like to make new seeds from the flowers after they have died back, like from the blossom that I have dead headed. Can I use the center of the shasta daisy as new seeds to plant next year to make new plants from. If I just let the dead-headed blossom stay on the ground after I have cut it off, will it make a new plant from that dead head or should I bring it in and dry it out during the winter and replant just the dried seeds from each dead head in the spring?
Will this work for other perennials like coneflowers, rudbeckias, other daisy-like flowers, calendulas, bachelor buttons, etc. I always try to make new plants from fruits and veggies that I buy or grow.
What is the correct way to save poppy seeds in order to transplant them to another flower garden. Thanks for any answer I can get I have done this with marigolds and sunflowers and they reproduce very nicely. I just purchased a large 2 gal Shasta plant that is starting to look overcrowded. Is it possible to separate into 3 or 4 plants when replanting? I love daisies, but the best are 'Leucanthemum' white mountain shasta Daisy.
The plant maintains a shorter profile and flowers all season, well into fall. The others get too tall, fall over without support, and bloom a much shorter time.
But I still love them. I have a number of clumps of shatas and theygrow really tall and fall over. I understand about staking them but I have read to pinch them at 6 inches. My question is, at 6 inches there are no stems.
Do I just punch off a layer of leaves? If you cut the stems early enough, the roots will still produce enough energy for new growth to continue. Worth a try. The plant is sturdy enough to survive. Northern Indiana also! By now you should be seeing blooms. Grew mine from seed last spring thru summer Planted in the ground September I will cut a few for indoor vases this year.
Come fall I will cut them back to about 6 inches.
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