I was not really familiar with these beautiful flowers until my husband’s birthday table was decorated with them this year. Our talented flower designer, Grant, filled the table with white containers with orange, yellow and fuschia-colored gerbera daisies last Saturday. And today, one week later, they are still going strong. What a beautiful and dramatic flower!
Gerbera daisies come in a variety of bright colors – pink, salmon, orange, yellow and white – and their flowers range from 2″ to 5″. Ours are about 3″ – 4″ across, which make for dramatic centerpieces, especially when clustered together by color.
How to plant them if you want to grow them? You can plant them by seed, but it is recommended that you immediately plant them once you open the packet because the seeds lose viability. You may be surprised by what emerges from your seeds as they are not always reliable by seed.
These flowers thrive in full sun and sandy, well-draining soil. You can enhance their success with propagation mix and allowing the soil to completely dry out between waterings. (And bees LOVE them!)
I’m not sure I’ll go to the trouble of growing them – perhaps if I have an empty vegetable box when it becomes too hot for my lettuces, as they’d be pretty en masse. But I’ll sure buy them as cut flowers when I see them next summer because they last forever in a vase and make quite a show!
