<em>Gazania</em>: sowing, planting and care
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Gazania, in a nutshell
- Gazanias are low-growing plants with a long summer flowering period
- Perennials but frost-tender, they are most often grown as annuals.
- They form a rosette of silvery-green leaves topped by flowers resembling large suns with warm, contrasting colours.
- Very easy to establish from sowing or as bedding plants, Gazanias tolerate poor, dry soils and plenty of light but do not tolerate stagnant moisture.
A word from our expert
Gazanias or Gazanies are sun-loving plants with vivid colours, most often grown as annual under our climate. Tireless. This small South African herbaceous is very easy to grow in dry, poor soil. It flowers from spring until first frosts without interruption. New flowers open each day as soon as sun is at its zenith and close in evening. Cultivars offered are usually hybrids such as Daybreak series which manage to flower under average light levels, unlike species types.
Gazanias are perennial in warm climates with relatively dry winters, such as in the Mediterranean or the South West,tolerating down to -10 °C. They self-seed very easily, often offering a mix of shimmering colours: orange, carmine red, brown, yellow to cream, bicolours with sometimes a dark maculate spot at base of “petals” (ligulate). They can also be kept under cover as cuttings taken in May or October, especially if wishing to favour particular colours.
Sow seeds under glass from February to April. For more information, also consult our file Sowing annual seeds, how to succeed, directly in ground or in trays
Their compact tufts in rosettes of narrow leaves, simple or lobed, grey-green, provide a setting for these large flowers that brighten borders or enliven summer beds, surrounded by plants of airy habit such as Gauras, Buenos Aires Verbena, angel’s hair or Agapanthus, another South African plant whose sky-blue or white tones calm the vibrancy of Gazanias’ warm colours.
Description and botany
Botanical data
- Latin name Gazania
- Family Asteraceae
- Common name Gazania, Gazanie
- Flowering from May to October
- Height between 0.10 and 0.30 m
- Sun exposure sun
- Soil type any poor, dry and well-drained soil, even calcareous
- Hardiness Quite low (-10 °C)
Gazania form a southern and tropical genus comprising 18 species. It is a species from South Africa and Mozambique, Gazania rigens (syn. Gazania splendens), that is the origin of most cultivated forms for bedding. These display larger flowers and require less heat than wild forms typical of the Cape’s coastal dunes. Gazania belong to family Asteraceae, as do daisy and Coreopsis.
Type species, Gazania rigens, about 30 cm across, bears heads of bright yellow or orange flowers surrounding an orange centre speckled with black and brown. Plant is an herbaceous perennial evergreen, generally grown as an annual in cool, damp climates. In southern France, it often persists as a perennial because of mild winters and, above all, dry summer conditions.
Plant develops within a few weeks into a dense cluster of small leaf rosettes no more than 20–30 cm across. Basal leaves, sessile and about ten centimetres long, are narrowly obovate, up to 3 cm wide, sometimes deeply lobed (pinnatifid). Lamina, rather dark green, has a thick glossy cuticle (wax) that protects it from dehydration and a white felt covering its lower surface. The form Gazania rigens var. leucolaena, with sun-yellow heads, has laminae white and woolly on both sides; leucolaena means ‘white cloak’.
The inflorescences are borne on stems little or not ramified, very leafy, up to 40 cm long, which exude a white latex when injured. But in cultivated forms, the heads are more commonly borne singly as in the wild variety, Gazania regens var. uniflora. Each “sun” is carried on a stout short peduncle 10–15 cm tall arising from the leaf rosette and facing the sky. Sterile ligulate flowers, arranged alternately in two concentric circles, form the head’s ray florets, displaying very colourful hues, sometimes bicoloured or marked with a dark brown spot at the base. The head’s velvety centre consists of dark tubular flowers that bear the sexual organs, pistils and stamens. Head size often exceeds 7 cm and even reaches 12 cm in diameter in hybrids such as New Day Tiger Stripe Mix. Gazania heads, like those of sunflowers (Tournesols), attract a myriad of pollinating insects beneficial to vegetable gardens.
Fruits are achenes that detach from the receptacle throughout the season. It is best to remove faded flowers every 2–3 days to stimulate formation of new buds.
Several colours of Gazania
Main Gazania varieties
Gazania Big Kiss White Flame F1 Seeds - Treasure flower
- Flowering time June to November
- Height at maturity 30 cm
Gazania rigens Kiss Gold F1 - Treasure flower
- Flowering time June to November
- Height at maturity 20 cm
Gazania New Day Mix F1 Seeds - Treasure flower
- Flowering time June to November
- Height at maturity 30 cm
Gazania Tiger Stripes Mixed Seeds - Treasure Flower
- Flowering time June to November
- Height at maturity 30 cm
Gazania rigens Big Kiss White Flame
- Flowering time June to November
- Height at maturity 30 cm
Discover other Gazania seeds
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Sow Gazania
Sowing gazania is easy. It is done from February to April, indoors in warm conditions at home or under heated cover.
Here’s how to proceed :
- Soak seeds for a few hours in a glass of water.
- Sow seeds into substrate for sowing moistened the day before, covering with 3 mm of fine substrate.
- Press down with a small board then water gently.
- Place the crop in warm conditions between 18 and 25 °C in a propagator or a heated greenhouse, keeping substrate slightly moist.
- Seedlings appear after 2 to 4 weeks.
- Pot seedlings into buckets when they can be handled.
- Wait until after last frosts, in April–May, before planting out in open ground.
Planting
Where to plant Gazania ?
Gazanias ensure continuous flowering from May–June through to October. They thrive perfectly by the sea on sandy, light, poor soils, exposed to drought, full sun, wind and sea spray. They also adapt very well to sheltered conditions in an urban garden within a flowerbed, a rockery, a terrace or a balcony, provided soil is well drained, not too fertile and exposure relatively sunny. Cultivars are in fact less demanding in sun and do not close at the slightest cloud. Gazanias prefer neutral to calcareous soils but tolerate acidic soils.
When to plant ?
Plant young plants in buckets in April–May once frost risk has passed, or proceed with sowing under cover from February.
How to plant ?
- To form a continuous tapetum, space Gazania plants 20 to 30 cm apart.
- Dip rootballs into a bucket of water to thoroughly moisten them.
- Work the soil, remove weeds, add gravel or sand if it tends to be compact.
- Dig staggered holes corresponding to the width of the rootballs.
- Fill the holes, firm with the hand then water the bed copiously.
In pot or planter, use a well-draining horticultural potting compost and add one third river sand.
Care
- Gazanias are drought-tolerant, although moderate but regular watering improves clump growth and flowering.
- Each day, remove, if possible, brown, faded flowers whose corolla has closed in the evening, as it only lasts one day. Do not confuse with buds, which are round and green.
- In cool climates, plants can be grown in pots and overwintered indoors to keep them for several years.
- Below -10°C, plants die, but you may still observe natural sowings in spring.
Propagation
The simplest way to multiply gazanias is to propagate by cuttings in May or October or to sow seeds between February and April (See above: sowing gazanias).
Propagation by cuttings
- Prepare a pot by filling it with 50% potting compost mixed with 50% sand.
- Take herbaceous stem tips about 10 cm long.
- Remove leaves near the base of the cutting.
- Insert them to two-thirds of their length after dipping the base of the stem in a plant hormone powder.
- Firm the compost gently all around to remove air pockets and ensure good contact between compost and cutting.
- Place them covered in the shade, for example by placing a cut‑off clear plastic bottle over them.
- In autumn, separate rooted cuttings and plant them in buckets which you keep in a bright frost‑free room until spring.
- Plant gazanias in open ground in spring.
Uses and associations
Busy gardeners appreciate Gazania both for its simplicity and the brilliance of its large heads, like Gaillardia, long favoured in grandmothers’ gardens. Their vivid colours mean they should be used sparingly, but they can be used to add a joyful touch at the foot of a lavender border or brighten a pot planted with a small conifer for a summer.
A container planting idea: Gazania ‘Kiss Bronze’, Thunbergia alata and Nemesia ‘Sunsatia Plus Little Vanilla’ which will cascade beautifully
You can also create a scene with Gazania planted as edging for a flower bed, combined with Verbenas. In a contemporary or natural garden, Gazania can, in small touches, pair with taller, monochrome plants with a light habit such as Gauras, Buenos Aires verbenas, feather grass or yarrow, all equally drought-tolerant.
Their mat-forming habit makes them charming low-maintenance rockery subjects and plants for heat-baked banks. Gazanias also perform very well in planters placed on a balcony or in urns that adorn a patio or a conservatory.
Further information
Discover our range of Gazania.
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