My african daisies are blooming!
TP
This is the first time I grew flowers. I have 7 african daisy plants.
Each has one flower bud so far, but they're growing up to 8 side
stems, so it looks like they'll have up to eight flowers on a plant.
Do african daisies just grow more and more stems and become bushy?
The first flower is a bright violet candy red color. I love that
color. The 2nd flower to open up, on a different plant, is a bright
candy orange color. I love that color too. It reminds me of the
expensive orange sunglasses I used to have. I got a seed packet of the
"mixed color giant african daisies" made by NK. I got them 3 years
ago. The picture on the pack shows very dull yellow and white flowers
only, but so far I have 3 flowers I can see the color of, and they're
all bright red and orange, no whites or yellows. I've looked at some
photos of african daisies online and haven't found any that are the
colors mine are. There are so many varieties of these things. I really
like the look of mixed color flowers. Someone else recommended having
a bed of only white flowers. How boring is that?
I planted the whole packet a couple of months ago in a 5' x 5' area.
Only one row of seeds germinated. I think the other rows weren't
getting enough sun. So I had 14 seedlings. Then the damn snails ate
half of them. I finally gave up trying to fight the snails and I dug
up the 7 seedlings and moved them into pots. This has protected them
from all plant-eaters except for these stupid tiny green grasshoppers
that are about 3/8ths of an inch long. Every day I have to look for
them and smash them so they won't eat big holes in the leaves.
I discovered that you need at least 8" diameter pots for these plants.
In the smaller pots, the growth has been stunted. In the smallest pot,
the plant was somewhat root bound and it is half the size of my
tallest african daisies, which are about 20" tall now. The packet said
they're suposed to grow 12" to 15" tall. I moved the smallest plant to
a bigger pot so hopefully it can grow to normal size. I haven't used
any fertilizer yet, but they seem to be doing OK without it.
Do african daisies make lots of seeds? I am going to harvest the seeds
from all the flowers and hopefully be able to grow tons of these
plants and have a whole bed that will thrive regardless of snails,
earwigs, tiny grasshoppers, etc.
Drought tolerance: these are supposed to be drought tolerant but so
far they sure aren't. Maybe they don't become drought tolerant until
after they get huge and have a huge root system. I have to water mine
every day.
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Tyra Trevellyn
>Date: Mon, Jun 25, 2001 6:18 pm
>Message-id: <p4efjt8q6luf5ogn6...@4ax.com>
It sounds like you're learning a lot and enjoying your first experience growing
flowers, despite some problems. I don't grow these daisies so I won't try to
advise you on specifics....I'm sure someone here will help. But in general,
drought tolerance describes a plant's ability to withstand drought conditions
when planted in the ground. Container plantings of garden flowers must always
be watered before they dry out. Unlike when they're in the ground, there is no
way they can reach down for the water they need and you must give it to them
directly. You didn't say what kind of potting mix you used, but it should be
well-draining. When you water, you should do it thoroughly and be able to see
it sink into the potting mix immediately. I've grown many different things in
containers and I've discovered that with the right mix, you can never
overwater....but you must be sure to do it enough. Enjoy the lovely flowers.
Best,
Tyra
z6b nj
Cereoid*
Do you have any idea of the wide range of Asteraceae found in Africa? They
range from short lived annuals to woody shrubs. Some African species of
Senecio grow thick trunks and massive leaves.
TP <t...@tp.com> wrote in message
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Jessicat
ones, though <g>. Actually I havent seen any colours that I didn't like and
they do put out lots of seeds, though I never had any run wild (might be the
slugs with the sprouts thing). You might try putting one or two out once
they are well established plants and see what happens. I have a slug/snail
habitat in my garden but they have never bothered my grown African Daisies
that I could see (Ididn't start them from seed). When they are in a place
that gets almost no water and enough sun to kill anything except cactus and
succulents they are the best plant you could ever have. Mine grew almost to
hedges and bloomed from spring well into fall with only a couple short
breaks.
Jessica R
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