How To Grow African Daisy From Seed
African Daisy is an annual flower, native to South Africa. African Daisy flowers may have yellow, red, blue, purple, white or multi-coloured petals with blue or yellow centres. The flowers are 1 - 1/2 inch wide, the leafs are green and lanceolate. The leaves' edges are whole, but the hardy types are toothed.
Osteospermum are known as the Daisy Bushes or African Daisies and are often used in summer beddings.
When growing osteospermum, you can expect them to start blooming about mid-summer.
However, when African Daisy grow from seed, they may not begin to bloom until late summer.
The plants prefer a warm, sunny position and rich well-draining soil. They can also tolerate poor soil, salt or drought well.
Latest varieties are blooming continuously when watered and fertilized well. Deadheading is not required, since they do not set seed easily.
If planted in a container, soil should be prevented from drying out completely. If it does, the plants will go into "sleep mode" and survive the period of drought, but they will abort their flower buds and not easily come back into flower.
In addition, if osteospermum are watered too much after the dry period, the roots are relatively sensitive to rotting.
Start African Daisy seed indoors at the same time as your other annuals, 6 to 8 weeks before the potential last frost in your area.
African daisies need light to germinate, so just scatter the seeds on top of the soil to plant them. Sow the seeds about 4 inches apart in the soil. Do not cover them. Once you have them in the soil, place them in a cool, well-lit location. Do not use heat to germinate them.
Keep the soil moist at 60 - 70 F degrees.
Preferably plant the flower seed where you want them to grow, because they do not transplant well.
Seedlings emerge in 10 - 21 days.
When large enough to handle, transplant them in the garden 10 inches apart.
The plant will reward you with the first blooms in 50 to 60 days.
Directly sow seeds into your flower garden after all risk of frost has passed.
African Daisy Care:
- They thrive in full sun. The plants tolerate partial shade, but will produce fewer blooms.
- Keep away from getting leaves wet, as African Daisy plants are susceptible to fungal disease. Remove old and spent leaves.
- Weed regularly (weekly) until soil is thoroughly moist.
- Apply mulch around with organic compost to keep the weeds down.
