Garden tips for Growing Shasta Daisy

Shasta daisies, Chrysanthemum maximum, are white petal perennial flowers with a golden center that looks wonderful when grown in a border garden.  You can also grow them in a prairie or in your cutting garden.  

Grow Shasta daisy from seed or from a plant. When the daisy is full-grown it will form a bushy clump where the stems grow up to three feet tall before producing flowers in the summer from July to September. 

Growing tips:
For healthy flowers with many blooms grow the Shasta daisy in full sun. However, if your summers are extremely hot with temperatures in the upper 90’s then the Shasta daisy would welcome part shade in the heat of the day.  

Plant the flower seeds or nursery-grown daisies in moderately fertile well-drained soil.  If your soil is poor, then amend it with miracle-grow potting soil.  You can plant daisy seeds indoors 12 weeks before the last frost in spring or sow seeds outdoors when the soil warms to 70 degrees. 

For growing daisies in masses, turn over the soil with a tiller and plant seeds in rows; plant seeds  1/16 of an inch deep. Space the seeds sixteen inches apart.

Another way to grow Shasta daisies is to plant them with eye-catching colorful flowers; coneflowers, zinnias and black-eyed Susan and red bee balm are a few of my favorites.  All of these flowers can be cut for beautiful bouquets or floral arrangements.

Caring for Shasta Daisies
Water the newly planted seeds so that the soil is evenly moist but not wet.  Do not allow the soil to dry out as it will cause seedling stress. Seed germination occurs in approximately 21 to 30 days.

Apply organic mulch around the flowers to help to retain moisture. 

Keep the soil evenly moist but not wet throughout the growing season.  The best way to achieve this is to water the flowers with a slow drip irrigation system in the morning.  If your summer temperature is hot; high 90s, then water in the morning and then again in the late afternoon.

Fertilize monthly with miracle grow formulated for flowers.  I use a bloom booster that is made to attach to the end of your hose. The fertilizer that is applied with water will get to the roots where the nutrients are needed.  My Shasta daisies produce large beautiful blooms that are long-lasting.

Deadhead the spent flowers to extend the bloom season.

Prune daisies in the fall to get ready for winter. :

Tips
Shasta daisies are a useful evergreen ground cover.  The plant's foliage is attractive even in the winter.  So plant them where you can admire them from a window.

Grow in USDA zones 5 to 9.