Who would have thought that a plant with the Latin name Leucanthemum × superbum could be so darn cute?
You'll love how they look when they're in bloom, with their bright white petals with a bright yellow eye against dark green foliage. Plus, these "she loves me, she loves me not" plants will last for years with hardly any extra care or attention needed on your part!
There are many cultivar of Crazy DaisyShasta Daisy, from taller varieties to low-growing ones. Shastas are a hybrid from the best of oxeye daisy, Portuguese and English field daisies named after Mount Shasta in California.
This herbaceous perennial will flourish in USDA Hardiness Zones 5 - 9, and various species will bloom from spring to fall.
The Shasta Daisy is a pretty daisy flower and well worth having in your garden.
Where to Plant
You'll need full sun exposure for best results. If you live in an area that gets less than six hours of sunlight per day or is in partial shade, choose another flower instead because it will not bloom as vibrantly as it otherwise could.
Once planted in a sunny spot, your little white wonders can thrive with hardly any extra care for three years or more! Plant them in a rock garden or alongside a dry creek bed or on a sunny balcony.
Plant in well-draining moderately fertile soil.
Related: Plants that do well in Afternoon Sun
Seeds or Plants
If you're looking for quick blooms and minimal effort on your end, you'll want to buy seeds and scatter them about the garden, so they have room to spread out a little bit.
You can also plant one or two Shasta daisy seeds into each of the holes in their growing tray!
However, if you'd prefer not to have hundreds of little plants popping up all over your yard (or want something a little different), choose to buy transplant Shasta daisies instead!
Once planted in your garden soil, give each plant a good amount of room, so they have plenty of space to grow large and strong without crowding out other flowers around them.
Your planter boxes or flowerbeds should look beautiful when filled with these white beauties blooming all over them!
When to Plant
You can find Shasta daisies seedlings or seeds at your local nursery or garden supply store in the early spring, and they're very easy to grow.
Plant after the last frost has passed.
Planting Crazy Daisy
Shasta daisies thrive in moist, well-draining soil that's fairly neutral in pH.
If you suspect your soil is too acidic or too alkaline for the daisies to grow properly, test it with a kit from your local gardening supply store to see if any care needs to be taken before planting.
Amend your soil with a topping of compost, and you're ready to grow.
Related: Shrubs For Full Sun Drought Tolerant
Watering
Once the seeds have germinated, or the seedlings are established, the Shasta Daisy plant is a resilient flower that will continue to thrive even if it isn't watered regularly!
This makes it ideal for folks who either don't have time to water their plants frequently or live in areas where there is an especially long dry season during the year.
As long as they have some water once a week during the growing season, they will thrive.
If you are concerned about how much or how little water each plant is getting (or want to make sure they're well-cared for), keep an eye out throughout the day for any wilting or drooping of the leaves.
If you see something like this, water your daisies thoroughly so that they perk up again and return to their upright position!
Propagation
Crazy Daisies makes for an interesting plant - one that will continue to spread on its own without any help from you.
If the daisy plants begin to look a little leggy or weak, simply pull up some of the less-flourishing bushes, cut them back by half, remove any flowers or buds and replant them in other parts of your garden so that they can continue to grow.
Division
If you have a patch of these pretty little plants that keeps getting bigger and bigger each year, you can break off a few of the healthy plants from the edge and transplant them elsewhere in your garden-or even give some away to friends or family members!
Division is the method I prefer for these clumping perennials and find the easiest and most rewarding.
- Divide them when they grow into a large clump.
- Dig the entire clump out and separate each plant.
- Add some compost to the garden bed and space them out evenly.
Divide your plant in early spring or after flowering.
Seed
Many Shasta daisies are hybrids, and they may not look like their parent plant.
- Keep the seeds from the spent flower heads and keep them in a paper bag.
- These seeds can be sown in spring.
- Distribute them evenly over the soil and press down.
They may not flower in the first season when grown from your parent plant seed. That is why I recommend purchasing seeds from your local garden center.
Cuttings
This method is for the summer season.
- Take a 5 - 6in (12-15cm) cutting from the top of a mature plant.
- Dip the lower end in rooting hormone, then place the cutting into a pot of moist potting soil. Keep the soil moist.
- After about six weeks, they will have rooted and can be transplanted out into your garden bed or outdoor pots.
Summer Care
Deadheading the spent flowers will prevent the plant from going to seed and increase the flower production.
In late summer, when shasta daisy blooms have come to an end, cut back the dead flower stalks right down to the base of the plant and mulch for winter.
Winter Care
If your area has particularly mild winters, there's not much extra care needed for your Shasta daisies other than watering them occasionally during the winter months.
However, if it gets especially cold where you live, they might need a little help through the colder months. It might be worth placing a layer or two of mulch over your patches of white beauties so they can stay warm and cozy throughout the winter months.
In addition, remember that when temperatures dip below freezing at night, the soil will freeze too.
To overcome this problem, simply cover up your Shasta daisies with either straw or pine needles so that they have protection from overnight freezes as well as protecting them from excess moisture in the ground, preventing rotting and mold.
Perennial Border Planting
Shasta Daisy looks spectacular in a mass planting.
But, equally, it looks stunning when combined in the perennial border with other sun-loving perennials that are fairly drought-tolerant such as star jasmine, white zinnia and white verbena, for a garden bed filled with only white flowers.
Or for a colorful show, combine them with African Daisy, Black-Eyed Susan and Blazing Stars (Ajuga).
Sedum and Lavender will also work well with this daisy and will attract pollinators.
Takeaways
Shasta daisies are easy to grow in well-drained, moderately fertile soil.
These daisies prefer full sun and will tolerate most soils but do not like wet feet. As a result, they will only need to be watered a couple of times during the summer months if it hasn't rained for a while.
If your plants start looking a little limp or weak, pinch off some of the less-flourishing bushes and replant them in other parts of your garden so that they can continue to grow.
When growing daisies, these perennial beauties, divide them when they have grown into a large clump.