WHEN TO PLANT SHASTA DAISIES

• Sow seeds in containers in a cold frame in autumn or spring.
• Divide existing perennials in early spring or late summer.
• If you seed directly, expect blooms the following spring after one season’s growth.
• If purchasing a plant in a container, plant in spring.

CHOOSING AND PREPARING A PLANTING SITE

• Grow in full sun for best blooms.
• Soil should be moderately fertile—too rich and you’ll get more vegetation than flowers—and moist but well-drained.
• Loosen the soil to a depth of 12 to 15 inches, then mix in a 2- to 4-inch layer of compost.

HOW TO PLANT SHASTA DAISIES

• Space plants 1 to 2 feet apart. Dig a hole twice the diameter of the container.
• When placing plant in the hole, make sure the top of the root ball is level with the soil surface.
• Fill around the root ball and firm the soil.
• Water thoroughly.
• Many of the taller plants will need support/staking.

HOW TO GROW SHASTA DAISIES

• Water during the summer only if rainfall is less than 1 inch per week.
• After the first killing frost, cut stems back to an inch or two above the soil line. (See local frost dates.)
• Every spring, apply some compost and mulch to help control weeds.
• Every 3 to 4 years, divide perennials again in early spring or late summer.

Daisies are generally low maintenance. However, the following may occasionally be troublesome:

• Aphids
• Slugs
• Earwigs
• Chrysanthemum nematode
• Leaf spots

• ‘Cobham Gold’ is a popular variety with double flowerheads and a yellow disc carried atop 2-foot stems.
• ‘Horace Reed’ is an elegant daisy with double white flowerheads and incurved disk florets.
• ‘Snow Lady’ is a fast-growing, erect, bushy perennial that blooms the first year from seed and produces single white flowerheads in the summer.

• Daisies are one of the April birth flowers. They are also said to symbolize innocence and hope. Learn more flower meanings here.

Black bees on the clover-heads drowsily clinging,
Where tall feathered grasses and buttercups sway;
And all through the fields a white sprinkle of daisies,
Open-eyed at the setting of day.