Growing Gazania Flowers
About Gazania: Perk Up Your Garden With Gazania's Delightful Charm!
Some people are not so fond of gazania because they see it as weeds—we are aware of this fact, and this article aims to change that perception. It’s true that many varieties of gazania are what you often see on abandoned soils or sway with the wind along the gloomy corners of the road.
Some gardeners never bother to care for them, as if they have nothing to offer. Well, perhaps it’s time to see the brighter side of things. On a positive note, these cheery, bright-colored flowering plants can actually perk up your garden in a heartbeat.
Apparently, they’re not fussy so with that effortless beauty, gazanias are a perfect choice for busy bees and beginner gardeners.
The gazania flower, also called the treasure flower, is native to South Africa. True to its name, these sun-loving blooms have a lot of uses to gardens and must be treasured.
With rosette-formed flowers, vividly-colored petals in a spectrum of colors, and silver foliage, gazanias can easily wow the eyes. They look pretty in containers, slopes, beds, borders, and as groundcover. Gazanias resemble daisies because they are both part of the family Asteraceae.
Due to numerous hybrids of gazania, banded markings combined with rich shades of yellow, pink, purple, bronze, white, orange, red, and coral help gardeners decide what seedling strains to grow. Besides, gazania’s growing habits are the same regardless of variety. Gazania parades abundant blooms from summer to winter. It is tolerant to drought, poor soil conditions, and can survive brief periods of frost. It closes up during night time and cloudy days as if taking a sleep and wakes up at a gaze of sunlight.
Gazania Propagation
The three easy ways to propagate Gazania are as follows:
- Collect and plant Gazania seeds – Shake the dried flowers onto a container and separate the seeds from the spent flower head. Sow seeds into seedling trays and transplant outdoors when early spring comes.
- Soft tip cuttings obtained from the plant – do not use plant material that has produced/ is producing blooms.
- Clump division – known for its high success rate. Divide the plants that form thick clusters. As long as the Gazanias are divided well, the success rate is considerably better and propagation will be much faster as compared to the two other methods.
How to Grow Gazania
The gazania flower blooms in all its glory during sunny seasons. It does not require pampering and can survive with basic needs – full sun, well-drained soil, and water. Truth is that the gazania plant needs watering only when the conditions are very dry. Just like any other flowering plants, gazania will thrive in good soil, but if soil quality is quite a problem in your area, this tough plant can tolerate poor and sandy soils.
Let’s discuss how to grow gazanias outdoors by clump division:
You may start cultivating gazanias outdoors once the danger of frost has passed. Choose a sunny location with well-drained, loose garden soil. Clean the planting site by removing the weeds and then dig a hole. Estimate the width of the root ball and use this as basis for the size of planting hole. A planting hole that is twice the width of gazania’s root ball is recommended. The depth will depend on how deep the plant was originally sown. Improve the quality of soil buy replacing some of the garden soil with organic compost. Space gazania plants 9 to 15 inches apart.
After placing the roots into the water hole, cover it thoroughly with garden soil and organic compost mix. Water the plant just enough to moisten the surrounding soil. Mulch the base of the plant to protect the roots and to keep the weeds at bay. Generally, Gazanias do not need frequent watering. But if you notice that about two inches of soil from the surface have dried out, provide supplemental water. After two weeks, you may feed gazania plants with a well-balanced, organic fertilizer. Afterwards, gazanias may only require feeding once every spring.
Caring for Gazania Flowers
It won’t hurt to give your gazanias some tender, loving care. Here are some tips how to care for your gazanias:
In spring time, promote longer blossoming cycle by clipping off faded blooms and old foliage using a bypass pruner. Clip spent at the leaf node so fresh buds would form at this spot. You may also apply some mulch like organic compost around the plant. Do not overwater your gazania as this may invite bacteria or fungi or cause root rot.
Gazania Pests and Diseases
Diseases that afflict gazanias are downy mildew and pythium root rot. Keep the leaves of the gazania flower dry as possible to prevent such diseases. Pruning and getting rid of infected plant parts will resolve these problems. You may also apply fungicide.
