Plant Profile: Gazania

I have been growing gazanias for several years and I love the bright daisy-like flowers and dark green foliage. When planted in a mass they create a pretty amazing flower display. One of my favorite things about growing gazanias is that they will bloom during the summer heat and will not wilt, they look absolutely fantastic when every other flower around them looks like they are melting. They do very well in the full sun planted in the ground or in pots. I have planted them both ways with great success over the years. Although I have been growing them for a long time, I still felt like I didn’t understand the plants as best as I could and that I could improve on growing them. With reading more about these delightful little plants for this blog post, I was able to answer a few questions for myself on becoming a more successful gardener.

Gazania Description

Gazanias are a member of the Asteraceae family. This family includes asters, daisies, zinnias and marigolds. Gazania flowers resemble daisies in their shape and they come in a wide variety of colors. The flowers can be solid color, tiger striped or bi-colored. They can be orange, yellow, pink, white, bronze or any combination of these colors.

There are two main types of gazanias: clumping or trailing. Clumping gazanias grow in a round mound of dark green glossy leaves that are gray and fuzzy underneath. They are evergreen (under the right conditions) and grow to about 6-10” tall and wide. Trailing gazanias spread rapidly along long trailing stems that have silver-gray leaves.

Interesting Gazania Facts

• Gazanias are native to southern Africa and are also known as the “Treasure Flower.”
• They were named after Greek humanist Theodorus Gaza and are a symbol of wealth and richness.
• Gazanias are nyctinasty, this means that the flowers close up at night or on cloudy days and open up when it is sunny.
• Some species were cultivated in Egypt as ornamental plants.
• In folk medicine, gazanias were used to prevent miscarriages and for toothaches.
• In Africa, gazanias are known as botterblom (butter flower) because the ray florets are supposed to taste like butter.
• To learn more about gazanias and their connection to Africa please read this interesting article Gazania, Treasure Flower, Terracotta Gazania, Botterblom, ububendle, Ubendle

Gazania Care

Gazanias are very easy to care for. In colder climates they are grown as annuals but in warmer climates they can be grown as short-lived perennials. They are cold-hardy to 20 degrees F and can handle light frosts. During these conditions they will die back and can be trimmed down to ground level. In the spring they will return and will be enjoyed for another season. An interesting and yet confusing thing about gazanias is that in zones 9 and up (and for me in zone 8b if we have a mild winter) gazanias will be evergreen. When the winters are warm enough they will go quiescent. That means that they slow their growth way down and their leaves will remain green. They do not go dormant all the way but they will not produce any new leaves or blossoms. There is no need to trim them if this is the case for your area. This is one of the things that greatly confused me about gazanias and now I have my answer. Some years I trimmed them down to the ground during the winter and other years they didn’t die back and I thought it was something I was doing. Now I know that this is just how gazanias grow in my climate.

They are drought tolerant, sun tolerant, grow well in coastal conditions and tolerate a wide variety of soils. They are very hardy plants and easy to care for. Gazanias do prefer full sun with well draining soil and are considered to be almost pest-free. Shade can make them leggy and a little unhappy. The shade will cause the flowers to close up and the plants can become susceptible to powdery mildew under these conditions. They really do love and thrive in full sun.

Gazanias respond really well to being deadheaded. Trimming the old flowers will help the plant to produce more blossoms. One trick I learned is to deadhead your plants during the time of day that the flowers should be open, for me that is late morning and afternoon. It is almost impossible to tell the old flowers from ones that are just temporarily closed up during the wrong time of day. If you choose not to deadhead your plants, they will reseed easily and you will most likely have new gazanias sprouting in your garden.

Consider planting gazanias in groups for a striking show of color. Even when not in bloom their leaves are grass-like and look beautiful in the garden by adding additional textures.

Gazania Propagation

Gazanias propagate very well by seed and can reseed easily on their own if you let them.

Seeds can be started indoors before your last frost date or directly sowed after the danger of frost has passed. Plant seeds about 1/4” and keep the soil moist.

You can also propagate them from basal cuttings in the fall. You will just need to trim a main stem, dip the cutting in rooting hormone and plant in moist soil. Protect your new plant from frost by bringing them indoors and they will be ready to be planted outside by spring.

Another way to propagate gazanias is by division. This would be done in fall by digging up your main plant and carefully separating the plants. Once separated you can replant all of your new plants in pots or in the ground. Keep the soil moist to help reduce stress on the plants after being separated.

Gazania Companion Planting

Since gazanias are members of the Asteraceae family, they make wonderful companion plants for your vegetable garden. The daisy-like flowers of this important plant family bring in helpful insects such as bees, hoverflies, syrphid flies, tachinid flies and parasitic wasps. 

Bees and hoverflies help with pollination. Tachinid flies and parasitic wasps help by eating the larvae of cucumber beetles, aphids, squash bugs, and the squash vine borer. This is especially helpful for the plants most bothered by these bugs, the cucurbit family: squash, melons and cucumbers.

Syrphid flies love to eat aphids and can reduce the aphid population by 70-100%! Syrphid flies are also great pollinators.

Gazanias are an excellent flower to intermix with your vegetable plants to help bring in the pollinators and other beneficial bugs. Since gazanias are not overly large plants, they can be planted under or next to many of your vegetable plants. They are shallow rooted so they will not compete negatively with the vegetable plants for water and fertilizer.

Quick Facts: Gazania

I hope you give gazanias a try in your garden! They are very hardy and rewarding flowers and I have enjoyed them for many years.

Happy desert gardening!

Joy Simper has a full time job as a home schooling stay at home mom. She is the one that holds the house and yard together and keeps the kids in line. She enjoys gardening, including seed starting and propagating plants.