Cape daisy

Cape daisy: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Bushy subshrub 30–40 cm high and wide, with upright to spreading stems that become slightly woody at the base.

Leaves

Oblong to lance-shaped, 5–10 cm, fresh green, with a slightly toothed edge.

Flower

Daisy-like flower heads 5–8 cm across on sturdy stems above the leaves. They open in sunshine and close in the evening and when it is cloudy.

Colour

The species is white with a bluish-purple underside and a dark blue-purple centre. Varieties come in pink, purple, yellow, orange and bicolours.

Roots

Fine and fairly shallow: it grows well in a pot but will not tolerate wet feet.

Flowering: May–October · Sowing: February–March · Plants: May · Pruning: March and July

Why grow it?

• Flowers for an exceptionally long time, from May to October, in pots or borders.
• Large, radiant flowers in white, pink, purple, yellow or orange, often with a dark centre.
• Copes with drought and heat better than many summer flowers: ideal for a sunny patio.
• Bees visit the open flowers.
• Often flowers abundantly again in the cooler autumn, when many summer flowers are fading.
• Sometimes survives a mild winter against a sheltered wall, and is easy to overwinter frost-free or to grow from cuttings.

Cape daisy: where does it grow best?

• Full sun: only then do the flowers open properly.
• Light, free-draining soil: sand or loam, acid to chalky. In pots: potting compost with some grit or perlite.
• Dry to moderately moist; once rooted it tolerates drought, but it rots in wet soil.
• A warm, sheltered spot, for example against a south-facing wall or on a patio.
• Plant 30–40 cm apart; a 1 m trough holds three plants.

Light

Sun

Soil type

Sand or loam

Acidity

Not fussy

Moisture

Dry or normal

Size

0.4 m tall, 0.4 m wide

Hardiness

Tolerates light frost (to -3 °C)

Goes well with

• Lavender: The same love of sun and drought, with purple spikes beside the large flowers.
• Purpletop vervain: Airy purple flower heads floating high above the daisies.
• Salvia: Blue or purple spikes in the same container or border.
• Blue fescue: A fine, blue-grey grass that makes the flower colours shine.

Cape daisy: when and how to plant it?

Plant in May.

1. Sow indoors in February–March at 18–20 °C in fine seed compost, barely covering the seed. It germinates in one to three weeks.
2. Prick out the seedlings into small pots once they have two true leaves and grow them on somewhere cool and bright.
3. Plant out your own seedlings or bought plants in May, after mid-May, when night frosts are over.
4. Dig a hole slightly larger than the root ball, set the plant at the same depth as in its pot and firm the soil.
5. Leave 30–40 cm between plants. For pots and troughs, always choose one with a drainage hole.
6. Water well straight away, then regularly for the first weeks until the plant has rooted.

Care

Watering

In the open ground only in prolonged drought. In pots, water when the top few centimetres are dry; never leave water standing in the saucer.

Feeding

In pots, a liquid feed for flowering plants every two weeks from June to September. In the ground, a little compost at planting time is enough.

Spent flowers

Snip them off regularly, down to the first leaf: the plant then keeps making new buds.

Cutting back

If the plant becomes long and untidy in July, cut it back by a third; it will flower again in late summer.

Heat

In long spells of heat it sometimes flowers less. Keep watering and removing spent flowers; a new flush follows in the cooler autumn.

Tip: Give it the sunniest spot you have, because the flowers close in shade and in dull weather. Deadhead regularly and it will flower until October.

Cape daisy: when to prune it?

Pruning months: March and July.

When: No real pruning: deadhead throughout the flowering season and give a light trim in July if the plant gets untidy. Shorten overwintered plants a little in March.

How:

• Cut off spent flowers with their stalk, just above a leaf.
• In July, cut long, bare stems back by a third; the plant regrows and flowers in late summer.
• Pinch out the tips of young plants once for a bushier plant.
• On overwintered plants, remove dead and weak shoots in March and shorten the rest by a third.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Cuttings

In August–September, take tip cuttings 5–8 cm long from non-flowering shoots. Remove the lower leaves and insert them in a mix of cutting compost and sand, in a bright, frost-free place. They root in three to four weeks; overwinter the young plants indoors.

Seed

Sow indoors in February–March at 18–20 °C. Seed from varieties often gives plants in a different colour from the parent.

Cape daisy: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −3 °C: protect in harsh winters.

• Not hardy: it tolerates only a few degrees of frost, down to about −3 °C. In a Belgian garden it usually dies over winter.
• In a mild winter it sometimes survives against a south-facing wall in free-draining soil. A layer of straw or dry leaves around the base helps.
• To keep it, move the pot before the first frost into a bright, frost-free place at 5–10 °C, such as a cool greenhouse or conservatory. Water very sparingly.
• Taking cuttings in late summer is often easier than overwintering a large plant.

Diseases and pests

• Aphids: On young shoots and buds. Hose them off or wipe them away with your fingers.
• Grey mould: Grey, fluffy mould on flowers and leaves in cool, wet weather. Cut out affected parts and water at the base, not over the plant.
• Root rot: The plant wilts although the soil is wet. Use a pot with a drainage hole and free-draining compost, and do not leave water in the saucer.
• Closed flowers: Normal in the evening and in dull weather. If they stay shut in sunshine too, the plant is too dark.
• Few flowers in summer: In hot weather it sometimes flowers less. Water, deadhead and be patient: it flowers again in autumn.

Through the year

• February: Sow indoors at 18–20 °C.
• March: Sow indoors. Shorten overwintered plants and give them a little more water.
• April: Prick out seedlings and grow them on cool and bright.
• May: Plant out after mid-May. First flowers.
• June: Flowering. Deadhead. Feed plants in pots.
• July: Cut long stems back by a third. Water in dry spells.
• August: Flowering. Take cuttings from non-flowering shoots.
• September: Second flush of flowers. Take cuttings.
• October: Last flowers. Bring pots indoors before the first frost.
• November: Overwinter bright and frost-free at 5–10 °C, with little water.

Good for wildlife

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Did you know?

• In Dutch it is called ‘Spaanse margriet’, Spanish daisy, although it comes from South Africa.
• The underside of the petals is often a different colour from the top: when the flowers close in the evening, you see that second colour.
• Botanists now usually place it in the genus Osteospermum, ‘bone seed’, after its hard seeds. In the trade the varieties usually go by that name too.