African Daisy, meet-like!

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Osteospermum, or, as it is also called, Cape daisy, in one of the rooms was proposed by us as a photo puzzle. But since then we have received so many responses with stories about this plant, we just could not help but return to this topic. It turns out that the “daisy", although rare in our flower beds, but those who raised her at least once, are firmly attached to her.

Having shared the seeds with me, a neighbor in the country called this plant a decorative chamomile.

Indeed, in form this flower resembles a medicinal plant familiar to us, however, it is distinguished by a variety of colors: not only white, but also lilac, and light brown, and even with a dark purple center. Only much later did I find out the real name of this wonderful flower - osteospermum. Moreover, the similarity with chamomile was noted not only by my neighbor, some also called him an African chamomile, because this plant comes from South Africa.

This African guest quite easily took root among my indigenous inhabitants of the flowerbed. For growth, fertile loose soil is best suited for them. The place should be sunny warm. Water the osteosperm in a timely manner - the soil should not dry out, but it is also dangerous to flood the plants. Of course, do not forget about top dressing, and other care necessary for any plant. And then among your usual daisies from June to October, like mine, these African ones can easily blossom.

Propagated by seeds

If it is important for you to maintain the varietal properties of hybrid Cape daisies, then this advice is not for

you, you better propagate them vegetatively. Well, if the characteristics of the variety do not matter, you can output them like me through seedlings. After all, this flower very well emerges from the seeds.

I’m doing this spring, in late March - early April. I pour a light substrate with sand into the box. I’m not crowding the sowing deeply by about half a centimeter, and then I transfer the box to a bright room with a temperature of about 20 °. After about a week and a half, seedlings appear. I transplant my Cape daisies to a flowerbed around the end of May. In order not to damage the roots, from the box into the open ground, seedlings are best carried along with a large lump of earth. I leave the distance between plants when planting about 25 cm. Good luck in reproduction, and let these beautiful flowers become more on our flower beds!