Cape Daisy Lazy Daisy Antique Shades

Cape Daisy 'Lazy Daisy Antique Shades' (Osteospermum 'Lazy Daisy Antique Shades') covers ground fast and flowers in blended apricot, pink and bronze tones that shift as each bloom ages. It sits at about 30cm tall and spreads to 60cm, so a handful of plants fills a border or a bank inside a season. It is a sun lover that asks for very little water once it is away.

Why you'll love it

• Flower colour that changes. Blooms open in soft apricot and deepen through pink and bronze, so one plant carries several tones at once.
• Fast cover. A spreading 60cm habit and quick growth mean a bare bed reads as planted within a single season.
• Made for hot, dry, exposed spots. Drought tolerant, heat tolerant and salt tolerant, so coastal front gardens and western beds suit it.
• Bees work it constantly. Open daisy flowers are easy forage, and this one flowers over a long season.

Where it works best

Groundcover and mass planting. Plant 40cm apart for full cover. At that spacing the plants meet in one growing season without smothering each other into soft leggy growth.

Borders and edging. A single row at 40cm centres gives a low flowering ribbon along a path. It stays under 30cm, so it never blocks a view or a walkway.

Pots and rockeries. It spills over the rim of a pot or a low retaining wall, and the sharp drainage of a rockery suits it well.

Growing cape daisy in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, all day. In shade it stretches and flowers poorly. It grows in warm temperate, cool temperate, Mediterranean, subtropical and arid gardens, and takes light frost only, so a hard frosting inland or tableland garden will cut it back.

Soil. Free draining and on the lean side. Sandy or gravelly ground is ideal; heavy clay needs a raised bed with coarse sand worked through. Rich soil gives you leaf instead of flower.

Water and feed. Water twice a week for the first six weeks, then only through long dry spells. A light dressing of slow release fertiliser in early spring is all it needs for the year.

Pruning. Shear the whole planting back by about a third after the main spring flush. That one cut keeps the centres full and brings on a second wave of flowers. Left untrimmed it goes woody and bare in the middle within two years.

What to expect when it arrives

It is grown as tube stock and in 140mm packs of ten. Tubes are the economical way to cover a large area and catch up within a season; the 140mm plants are already bushy and often carrying buds, which suits a small border you want looking finished sooner.

Soft foliage plants can look tired after transit, so water them in the day they arrive and give them a week in a sheltered spot before planting out in high summer. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Browse the wider groundcover range for other fast spreading options.
• Choosing a groundcover for the site you actually have.
• Compare coastal and salt tolerant plants for exposed gardens.
• Low growing plants for borders and path edges.

Common questions

How many plants do I need per square metre?

At 40cm spacing you need about six plants per square metre for full cover in a season. Stretch to 50cm if you are happy to wait two.

Why has it stopped flowering in midsummer?

Cape daisies often pause through the hottest weeks and pick up again as the nights cool. A shear back after the spring flush and a light feed shortens that gap.

Will it survive frost?

It takes light frost only. In a hard frosting garden it is usually grown as a warm season display, or kept in a 300mm pot that can move under cover.