African daisies (Dimorphoteca aurantiaca)
These are some of the best flowers for the Galena garden. They are tough and sturdy. They'll
grow in mud in melting ice and still sprout a week later. They'll grow in grit, sand, gravel, and
awful soil-like material. They can stand storms, frosts, rain,
hail, dogs, kids, and anything else which is thrown at it.
This flower only has one drawback. When the sun goes behind the clouds, these flowers fold up. Sadly,
the sun comes out less and less frequently as the summer progresses, so there are some days when you just
don't see these open up. The good news, though, is that it takes a speck of sunlight to see them open up again.
These photos show African daisies over a period of several years. The right photo in the second row shows early
African daisies giving me flowers only four weeks after being planted from seed; the bottom photo shows African daisies
growing with vigor in a patch of dirt that has been uncared for all summer long.
A great plant. I get my seed from Wildseed Farms and from secret sources in South Africa. I also collect the seed myself
up from my own plants.
