The cheerful shasta daisy is a classic perennial. It looks similar to the familiar roadside daisy but has larger and more robust blooms.

Shasta daisies tend to bloom in clumps from 2 to 3 feet tall and 1 to 2 feet wide. They bear all-white daisy petals, yellow disk florets, and contrasting glossy, dark green leaves.

Like clockwork, shastas return every spring or early summer and bloom until early fall. They are never invasive (like some consider roadside daisies to be) and they are terrific for cutting.

Planting

• Grow in full sun.
• Soil should be moderately fertile, not overly rich, moist but well-drained.
• Sow seeds in containers in a cold frame in autumn or spring. Divide perennials in early spring or late summer.
• If you seed directly, expect bloom the following spring after one season’s growth.
• If purchasing a plant in a container, plant in spring.
• Loosen the soil to a depth of 12 to 15 inches, then mix in a 2- to 4-inch layer of compost.
• Space plants 1 to 2 feet apart. Dig a hole twice the diameter of the container.
• When placing plant in the hole, make sure the top of the root ball is level with the soil surface.
• Fill around the root ball and firm the soil.
• Water thoroughly.
• Many of the taller plants need support/staking.

Care

• Water during the summer only if rainfall is less than 1 inch per week.
• After the first killing frost, cut stems back to an inch or two above the soil line.
• Every spring, apply some compost and mulch to help control weeds.
• Every 3 to 4 years, divide perennials again in early spring or late summer.

Pests/Diseases

Aphids, slugs, earwigs, chrysanthemum nematode, and leaf spots may be troublesome. However, daisies are generally low maintenance.

Recommended Varieties

• ‘Cobham Gold’ is a popular variety with double flowerheads and a yellow disc carried atop 2-foot stems.
• ‘Horace Reed’ is an elegant daisy with double white flowerheads and incurved disk florets.
• ‘Snow Lady’ is a fast-growing, erect, bushy perennial that blooms the first year from seed and produces single white flowerheads in the summer.

Wit & Wisdom

Black bees on the clover-heads drowsily clinging,
Where tall feathered grasses and buttercups sway;
And all through the fields a white sprinkle of daisies,
Open-eyed at the setting of day.
–Abba Woolson

Daisies are one of the April birth flowers. They are also said to symbolize innocence and hope. Learn more flower meanings here.