Including daisies in the garden
Classics in the garden and in the floristry world, valued for their simple flowers. Many argue a garden and a bouquet are incomplete without a floral element in this distinct shape. Whatever your opinion is on that argument daisy type flowers have been around for a long time and they make us feel summery. I think that there is a place for them in any and every type of garden.
We grow many plants with daisy type flowers and in this piece I’ll talk about Leucanthemum x superbum, Anthemis, Coreopsis, Rudbeckia, Leucanthemella and Erigeron. I have a couple of nice planting plants for daisy type plants that I will detail and I’ll mention a couple for different areas of the garden and the latest blooming varieties that we grow at Caherhurley Nursery of the families mentioned above.
Daisy types are grown for their flowers. The foliage is not first class. In some cases it’s the type of foliage that you want to plant something with to disguise it. That’s no problem, and gives a flowering area of the garden longer lasting interest, as foliage lasts much longer than flowers.
The first plant variety I’m going to talk about is Anthemis tinctoria ‘Sauce Hollandaise’. This perennial is long flowering, earning it a place amongst our favorites here on the nursery. It grows to 60cm and has pale yellow with a darker yellow centre from June to August about a mound of divided foliage. Like all Anthemis it can get a little leggy, and the basal foliage isn’t the prettiest so in this planting we will include Ruta graveolens ‘Jackmans Blue’ which likes the same conditions of well-drained soil and sun. This plant can grow to 60cm also. If pruned annually in spring the leaves will have the best colour, with a slight blue tinge to the leaves, amplifying the yellow of the Anthemis flowers. To set the two off even better we include a third plant, Geranium ‘Blue Cloud’. The gentle, absent-minded beauty of the pale blue Geranium flowers weaving their way through the dense looking foliage of the Ruta and the far more solid Anthemis is a pleasing contrast. Again, the contrast between the blue and the yellow help each other to look their best. Alongside or behind these the spikes of Salvia nemerosa ‘Caradonna’, flowering from June to September with masses of vivid indigo-blue flowers held on dark stems in upright spikes. The spikes give a superb contrast to the disks of the sun worshipping Anthemis and the softly rounded cup of the Geranium. A lovely little planting combination. A planting such as this can be repeated in a bed in a certain size, say a meter squared or it can be as big a planting combination as you have space for. The more plants you include, the greater impact it will have. It feels bold to make a bed with just a small combination of varieties but the effect is striking.
Leucanthemum x superbum ‘Beauté Nivelloise’ or Leucanthemum x superbum ‘Beethoven’ would either work well in the following planting. The choice between them is personal- do you prefer the classic daisy petals of the Beethoven or the shaggy petals of Beauté Nivelloise? Either Leucanthemum will grow to at least 60cm and flower from June to August. The flowers of both are large, with white petals with yellow centers but the foliage is, again, not very interesting so we’re going to put a plant with strong foliage in front. Planted with the Leucanthemum we will have Rudbeckia tribola ‘Prairie Glow’. This Rudbeckia grows to 100cm and has golden red-brown flowers with a brown cone centre. They bloom from June-September.
In front we put in a few Bergenia ‘Ballawley’. This large leaved Bergenia has green leaves in the summer that turn purple-red in the winter. The leaves can grow at an upright angle, giving us the interesting view of both the top and the bottom side of the leaf. The veins on the base are striking on such big, bold leaves, particularly when they start to tint purple-red. This plant is a great foliage plant and the long interest of the foliage adds to its value. It has flowers too, that make great cut flowers. They can look otherworldly next to daisies. The flowers are pink on tall pink-red stems in March to May (before the Leucanthemum and Rudbeckia giving the planting a longer over all flowering period).
Finally, as a back ground (we are assuming a bed that has a fence or wall at the back) we will have another plant with strong foliage. Ageratina altissima ‘Chocolate’ has chocolate brown leaves and stems and grows to 120cm tall. It has clusters of fluffy white flowers from July to September. It is a clump forming perennial so be sure to give it space. The chocolate brown leaves are a good back ground for the white of the Leucanthemum and make the Rudbeckias colours look luxurious. This planting is striking and requires more space than the first idea.
Some plants with daisy flowers have lovely foliage and form- Coreopsis is one of these. It grows in a nice mound, and pretty leaves, on some varieties they are almost feathery on others there are more star like divided leaves. They flower usually from June to August but can keep going to late September. They look good at the front of a bed or border and grow up to 40 – 50cm. We grow several varieties of Coreopsis and feel they are a great addition to the garden.
For a rockery area the little but mighty Erigeron karvinskianus is a great choice. It self seeds, has a long flowering period and can grow in most places. It has masses of classic daisy flowers in white and pink. It can flower up to nine months of the year! Flower stems are up to 20cm tall.
Another Erigeron worth mentioning is the ‘White Quakeress’. This lovely plant has masses of white daisy type flowers with yellow centers. It grows to 30cm and flowers from June to September or often longer. It is clump forming, like all Erigerons and looks lovely in a border.
For a later flowering daisy type Leucanthemella serotina ‘Herbststern’ is a good choice. This robust, vigorous erect perennial has stems to 150cm. The large 7cm wide, daisy type flowers with yellow centre can be seen from September to October. This variety has wider petals (white ray florets) than Leucanthemella serotina. Like all daisy type flowers this autumn ox eye daisy likes a well-drained soil in the sun.
