Daisy African Wildflower Seed

African Daisy - Dimorphotheca Aurantiaca

Approximate seeds per pound: 250,000
Seeding rate: 9 pounds per acre
Height: Up to 1 ft.
Flower Color: Orange and yellow
Plant Type: Annual. Lives just one year. Grows quickly, blooms heavily, dies with first frost. Can regrow following spring if seed falls on bare ground.
Flower Type: Daisy-like
Bloom Time: Early and mid-season
Is African Daisy wildflower invasive? No
Is African Daisy wildflower endangered? No
Is African Daisy wildflower edible? No
Is African Daisy wildflower medicinal? No
Regions: All regions of North America.
Zones: 3 - 10
Soil preference: Prefers gritty dry conditions.
Sun/Shade: Full sun
Moisture Requirements: Adaptable to even arid conditions.
Germination: 10 - 30 days
Optimum soil temperature for germination: 60F - 70F
Sowing depth: 1/16"

African daisy is native to South Africa and was introduced to South Australia in ship ballast at Port Lincoln in about 1930. African daisy tolerates a wide range of soil types and occupies areas with 500 to 1500 mm annual rainfall. Like all South African wildflowers, this beauty is best grown in sharp-draining soil, not heavy loam or clay. If conditions are right, African Daisy can provide spectacularly colorful bloom and easily established from wildflower seed.

The African daisy flowers are 1-1/2 inch wide flowers, which close at night, in the shade, and during cloud cover. The African daisy flowers are in shades of white, orange and yellow and apricot.

Stems – several growing from a central crown starting from the wildflower seed, generally 1 to 1.5 m high but up to 3 m, grey-green or green, stout, woody when mature, soft and sappy when young; with longitudinal, parallel, raised, ridges and serrated ridges on the lower sections, the ridges more pronounced on younger plants; stems usually covered with white hairs like cobwebs when young, but becoming smooth and hairless.

Leaves – leathery, upper surface dark green, rough, becoming hairless and often shiny, under side covered with dense white or grey woolly hairs; narrow lance-shaped, 50 to 120 mm long and 3 to 25 mm wide (mainly 7 to 15 mm); margins with 2 to 8 forwardly directed teeth or without teeth (upper leaves). Towards the top of the plant the leaves are longer and narrower and are more serrated than toothed. The leaf margin is often curled under and there are usually short wings at the leaf base which continue onto the stems as ridges.

Flowers – yellow, numerous in flattened heads 5 to 30 cm (mostly 10 to 20 cm) across at the ends of stems; each head consisting of 40 to 200 or more flowers; each flower bell-shaped, 12 to 15 mm wide, surrounded by 18-22 bracts with hairy brown tips and up to about 20 shorter and smaller bracteoles (small leaf-like appendages below and outside the bracts surrounding the flowers); each wildflower consists of 9 to 13 petal-bearing female florets 4 to 7 mm long arranged around the outer edge, and 40 to 95 tubular florets (lacking petals) grouped in the central disc all coming from a single wildflower seed.

African Daisy Wild Flower Seeds – 1.5 to 2 mm long, oblong to cylindrical, brown or reddish-brown with a pappus (parachute) of fine hairs to 5 mm long that is readily detached.

Roots – much branched, fibrous, shallow, extending mat-like up to 3 m from the crown.

Established plants produce new growth from the crown after autumn rains. Wild flower seeds germinate in spring and early autumn with some germination through winter. Stem growth is rapid in late winter and spring. Flowering commences in November and continues until autumn. Seeds mature 2 to 3 weeks after the flowers open. A mature plant produces about 50,000 seeds per annum. Plants can live for as long as 7 to 10 years.

• African daisies need full sun and a light dry soil.
• African daisies seeds can be sown in spring after frosts.
• Keep wildflower seed moist until germination
• Sow them about 4 inches apart in the soil.
• Add a low nitrogen fertilizer to the African daisies once a month.
• African daisies doesn's transplant well, so plant where you want them.

• Remove old and spent leaves to prevent fungus infections.
• When repotting see that the crown of the plant is above the level of the soil.
• Generally, African Daisies do not need insecticides or fungicides.
• f a problem arises treat them with an insecticidal soap and /or fungicide.
• Mulching is done around but not on top of the plants with 3 inches of organic compost.
• Water the African daisy wildflowers well weekly until soil is completely moist.