The Wonderful Shasta Daisy

Nothing says "cottage garden" like Shasta daisies.  They are beloved the world around and are the favorite flower of many people.  The one I grow is the cultivar "Becky."  It is the best variety for the South and is renowned for taking more heat and humidity than most other daisies.  It is also great about not getting too tall and floppy.

The plant grows into a bushy clump that gets about 2' tall and about the same wide.  They like well-drained, sunny spots.  The blooms start in May at my house and continue for a couple of months.  They will bloom longer if deadheaded regularly.  Don't let them go long without water during the growing season.  On the other hand, in the winter they will die if left soggy.

My plant is growing in a corner by my fence.  It will be ready to divide and spread around this fall.  You can divide them every three years or so when the clumps get large.  The blooms grow on long stems making for great bouquets, so be sure to pick plenty of them.  Butterflies and bees also appreciate all types of daisies.

The Dog Days Blues

During the dog days of summer when it's too hot to do much in the yard, you have time to make plans and dreams for the fall.  Fall is one of the busiest times of the year for gardening in Louisiana.  It's when you separate many perennials, plant all the cool season annuals, and plant shrubs and trees.  Here are some of my plans for dividing perennials:

First off, my daylilies need to be divided and planted in new beds.  I have big plans for how to re-arrange my daylilies.  The white Joan Seniors are to be put in mixed beds with other flowers because their cream color mixes so well.  The darker colors should be put in part shade where their colors won't get faded by the sun.  I also have family and friends that might really like to get some nice daylily starts.

 

The Becky Shasta daisies have really spread a lot and can finally be divided this fall.  I'm really excited about this since I've been patiently waiting to spread these around to other flower beds in my yard.  I can think of many places where an unfloppy, mounding, white and yellow flower would look good. 

My other plants that need dividing and re-planting are the irises along the fence.  I don't like them being along this fence because it becomes quite hard to weed this area in the summer.  Irises don't like to be mulched, so it's really hard to keep weeds and grass out of the area they are growing in.  Hence, this fence gets ugly in summertime.  I'll put these in a proper flower bed where I can get to them easier.  This fence will get some other plants that like mulch.  I'm thinking of making up a bed that has all bulbs, corms, and rhizomes and that will have nearly continual blooms all year.  I could have daffodils, gladioli, lilies, irises, crocosmias, tuberoses, and etc in this bed.  Wouldn't that be neat?  Speaking of tuberoses, they need to be divided this fall as well.  I can't wait!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - June

Every month on the 15th, May Dreams Gardens hosts the Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.  You are supposed to put pictures of what all is blooming in your yard on your blog and then link it to the MDG site.  So here is my contribution of the month. 

Joan Senior Daylily

Mrs. B. R. Cant rose

Prosperity rose

Becky Shasta daisies

Plumbago blooms

Cashmere Bouquet (clerondendrum bungei)

Magnus Purple Coneflower

Some of the other flowers in bloom in my yard at this time are gladiolas, gardenias, sunflowers, zinnias, honeysuckles, Victoria Blue salvias, Chaste vitex, achillea, lantanas, altheas, crape myrtles, coreopsis, gaillardia, hardy hibiscus, and cardinal flowers.  I just can't put pictures of them all in one blog entry!

Shasta!

Let me preface this entry by saying that Shasta daisies are among my favorite flowers.  My problem with them has always been that they don't really thrive down here in the Deep South where the temperatures are so hot and the humidity so high.  Another problem is that they tend to get tall and floppy for me, which I hate.  I researched long and hard to find the perfect Shasta, and I finally hit the jackpot with the variety called "Becky."  As you can see in the picture above, the blooms are perfect daisy form with perfect white petals surrounding a butter yellow center. 

Here's another single bloom for you to really see the form. 

This variety gets about 30" tall at the most, the plant has a nice rounded form, and it doesn't flop to the ground.  The flowers are perfectly cuttable and make wonderful bouquets - especially if mixed with some purple coneflowers.  The plant slowly spreads and you can get new babies after a couple of years.  I intend to get some more to spread around my yard in the coming year.  Nothing spreads cheer like a daisy, so go ahead and plant you some.  Give Becky a try, especially if you live in the South.  I can vouch for this variety doing well.