Annuals Dictionary: Gazania
Daisy family
Compositae
Ga-zay’ni-a. Showy South African herbs comprising about 16 species, a few long cultivated for their pretty flowerheads.
Description
Leaves alternate and basal. Flowerheads solitary, long-stalked, closing at night or in cloudy weather. Rays yellow, golden, or white, often with a dark spot at the base, the head thus with a dark eye. Good ground cover or edging plants.
How to Grow
Best adapted to dry desert gardens, where they will endure for months. In hot, humid climates, plants perish soon after first bloom unless given excellent drainage. Start seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before last frost; set out in sunny, dry, well-drained soil after danger of frost is past. Or propagate by basal cuttings taken in late summer. The species below prefers warm weather.
Gazania rigens
Treasure Flower . To 16 in. (40.5 cm) high, trailing, and branched. Flowerheads 1 in. (4 cm) wide, the rays orange, yellow, gold, cream, pink, or bronze-red, with a black spot near base. Var. leucolaena has unspotted, yellow flowers. Newer varieties include multicolored blossoms, as well as dwarf kinds with large flowers. Flowers close at night. Also sold as G. splendens . Tender perennial grown as a tender annual.