Cut Leaf Daisy ‘White Bliss’

Cut Leaf Daisy 'White Bliss' (Brachyscome 'White Bliss') is the white flowered form of the hardest working native groundcover daisy. It makes a soft mound about 300mm high and 500mm wide of fine ferny foliage, then covers itself in clean white daisies through the warm months. White reads as light rather than colour, so this is the version for a bed that is already busy.

Why you'll love it

• White that lifts everything near it. A drift of white daisies brightens a dark corner and sits comfortably beside strong foliage colour without competing with it.
• A long flowering season. Flowers open from spring through summer and continue into autumn in a warm garden, more than most groundcovers manage.
• Handles heat, salt and dry. Drought tolerant, heat tolerant and salt tolerant, so a hot exposed bed or a coastal front garden is well within range.
• Fills in fast. Fast growing and low maintenance, with open flowers that bees and butterflies find easy to work.

Where it works best

Mass planting and groundcover. Plant 40cm apart. At that spacing the mounds meet within a season and the white flowers read as a continuous drift rather than scattered singles.

Borders and edging. Its 300mm height suits the front edge of a bed, a path or a driveway, low enough that it never needs cutting back off a mowing line.

Pots, rockeries and courtyards. It grows well in a 300mm or wider pot on a balcony, and settles into the pockets of a rockery where drainage is naturally sharp.

Growing cut leaf daisy in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun is essential. In shade you get foliage and almost no flower. It suits subtropical, warm temperate, cool temperate and Mediterranean gardens, and takes light frost only, so hard frosting gardens want a warm sheltered position.

Soil. Sharp drainage matters more than fertility, and it performs in poor sandy soil. On clay, build the bed up into a mound with compost and coarse sand through it, because a wet crown over winter is the usual cause of losing one.

Water and feed. Water twice a week for the first six weeks, then only through real dry spells. Feed a low phosphorus native fertiliser once in early spring. Heavy feeding gives soft leafy growth and fewer flowers.

Pruning. Shear the mound back by about a third once the main flush has finished, usually in late summer. That yearly cut keeps the plant tight and flowering instead of woody and hollow.

What to expect when it arrives

This variety is grown in tube stock only, so the plant that arrives is young and compact, carrying a small root plug rather than a full bushy top. For a groundcover planted at 40cm centres that is what you want: tubes establish quickly and cost a fraction of potted stock across a whole bed.

Tube stock travels well because there is little top growth to bruise. Plant it out promptly, water in with a seaweed tonic, and expect the first flowers within six to eight weeks in warm weather. Plants are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• A practical guide to choosing groundcovers
• Browse the Australian native range
• Compare plants suited to pots and containers
• Cut Leaf Daisy 'Hot Candy' for the same plant in pink

Common questions

How many plants cover a square metre?

About six at the recommended 40cm spacing. Planting more tightly does not bring the cover forward and only makes the first summer of watering harder.

Can I mix it with the pink form?

Yes, and it works well because both are the same plant in habit and size. Plant them in blocks rather than alternating, since drifts of each colour read far better from a distance.

Why has mine gone bare in the middle?

That is what happens when the annual trim is skipped. Shear the mound back by a third after the main flush each year and it stays dense, while a plant left uncut for two or three seasons rarely fills back in.