Seaside daisy
Erigeron glaucus · Asteraceae
Fleshy, grey-green rosettes carry large lavender-pink daisies with wide yellow centres, close to the ground, for most of the summer.
- Size
- 10 in tall, 18 in wide
- Zones
- 5 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Late May to late August
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Carpet
A bed built around seaside daisy
The planner designed this bed around seaside daisy when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why seaside daisy stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Seaside daisy × 11, lavender
- 2 Sea thrift × 5, pink
- 3 Little bluestem 'The Blues' × 5, tan
- 4 False sunflower 'Summer Nights' × 3, yellow
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Sunset hyssop × 3, orange
- 7 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 4, purple
- 8 Hyacinth 'Delft Blue' × 12, blue
Why this plant
- A classic partner for sea thrift. Both are on this plan. A pairing gardeners have proved outranks a general rule.
- The only lavender.
Why here
- On the front edge. At 10 in it frames the bed without hiding it, and it is in leaf all season. It finishes 75% of the edge.
- 11 plants in 3 runs (5, 3 and 3). Runs of different lengths make the edge a frame, not a ruled line.
- Beside sea thrift. A recognised partner: the planner puts such plants together where it can.
Why now
- In flower for 14 weeks. From late May to late August.
- Fills a gap. For one of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
- One of two evergreens. They are what the bed has to show from November to March.
Planned as an English border: 4 of the 5 groups (80%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Early colour comes from bulbs planted between the other plants: hyacinth 'Delft Blue'. The most in flower at one time is 4 kinds, from early August.
The planner's own design check: 14 Excellent, 3 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where seaside daisy goes in a border
At 10 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is low (6 to 12 in).
Its job: carpet. A groundcover planted in threes and fives to cover the soil: along the front, and just behind it.
A native of Pacific coast cliffs that shrugs off salt wind and poor, sandy soil. It makes a neat evergreen edging near the sea, and resents heat and humidity inland.
- Seaside gardens
- Edging in sandy soil
- Rock gardens and walls
What to plant with seaside daisy
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Sea thrift: in flower together for four weeks, from late May; happy in the same dry soil.
- Blue fescue: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; happy in the same dry soil.
- Red valerian: in flower together for 13 weeks, from late May; tall enough (2½ ft) to stand behind it; happy in the same dry soil.
Questions about seaside daisy
Does seaside daisy need sun or shade?
Seaside daisy grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled.
What zones does seaside daisy grow in?
USDA zones 5 to 9. It is hardy to zone 5, which means it survives winter nights down to about −10 °F (−23 °C).
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does seaside daisy flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late May to late August. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 5 | Late May to late August |
|---|---|
| Zone 6 | Mid May to late August |
| Zone 7 | Early May to mid August |
| Zone 8 | Early May to mid August |
| Zone 9 | Late April to early August |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should seaside daisy be planted?
16 in (40 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 18 in (45 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 10 in (25 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many seaside daisy plants do I need?
At 16 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 7 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 8 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 21 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as threes and fives, along the front and just behind it.
In the bed above, the planner used 11 in three groups.
What flowers after seaside daisy?
Seaside daisy is over by late August. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Garden chrysanthemum: from mid September to late October, 24 in tall.
- Sedum 'Autumn Joy': from mid August to mid October, 24 in tall.
- Meadow saffron: from mid September to mid October, 6 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
What does seaside daisy look like in winter?
Seaside daisy keeps its grey-green leaves all winter, so it is one of the plants that hold a bed together from November to March, when the perennials have gone.
More Erigeron
- Mexican fleabane Erigeron karvinskianus
- Robin's plantain 'Lynnhaven Carpet' Erigeron pulchellus 'Lynnhaven Carpet'
In these guides
- Low plants for the front of a border
- Groundcover plants
- Evergreen perennials, ferns and grasses
- Long-flowering plants: 12 weeks or more
- Silver and grey-leaved plants
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial (groundcover)
- Size
- 10 in (25 cm) tall, 18 in (45 cm) wide
- Plant
- 16 in (40 cm) apart
- Height class
- Low (6 to 12 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Late May to late August; daisies; lavender, pink
- Leaves
- Medium texture, evergreen; grey-green
- Shape
- Mat-forming, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Asteraceae
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.