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Tribune photo by PENNY CARNATHAN

African daisies come in many varieties, including traditional daisies and spoon-shaped petals.

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By PENNY CARNATHAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 20, 2009

Updated: 03/20/2009 01:13 pm

Back in early November, I wrote about a nifty new gadget, the EasyBloom Plant Sensor. Stick the sensor in the ground and it gathers information about light, drainage and other conditions. Then plug it into your computer. The software combines the sensor data with climate and weather information for your ZIP code and pops out lists of plants that should like that spot.

I stuck my sensor in a sunny, sandy, failure-to-thrive zone and asked the software to search for perennials with pink or orange blooms, 12 to 18 inches tall.

It gave me three choices, the most appealing of which was African daisies. I had never noticed African daisies in my flower-shopping travels, but ever since, I've kept a lookout.

Last week I found them. And I fell in love.

At Home Depot, you'll find African daisies with a traditional daisy-type flower. At Green Thumb Nursery in Town 'N Country, I found those along with a more dazzling variety that has spoon-shaped petals forming a flower like you'd see in a kaleidoscope. I bought three plants.

My garden just got a major spring haircut, and it looks about as happy as a 10-year-old boy walking out of his grandpa's barbershop. So I wanted some color for short-term jazzing up, and staying power for the long haul.

I found petunias everywhere. (Why do garden centers stock up on petunias in March?) But I want my investments to last through the heat of summer, at least. And since we're in the midst of a drought, with two dry months ahead, no crybabies.

I found some good recruits. If you have a sunny, sandy yard, these flowers actually like feeling the burn.

Penny Carnathan

African daisies

Osteospermum

A variety of South African plants are collectively referred to as African daisies. They can take the heat, but need some watering to get established. In many climates, they're annuals, but here, they can be coaxed into perennial-ness. They like well-draining soil, so sand is good; but if you have very sandy soil, add some compost or other amendment when planting. Dead-head and cut back dying stems to encourage new growth. Note: The spoon-petal flowers fold up when the sun goes down.

In the University of Florida's spring trial gardens, a traditional daisy-style variety called Asti Purple scored an average 3.5 on a scale of 0-5 (zero being dead) in testing from April 23 to July 30, 2008. It peaked at 5 in early June and won the garden's award for outstanding new varieties.

Victoria Blue salvia

Salvia farinacea

As with most plants, water well to establish. But after that, you can almost forget about these. They love the sun and the sand, and produce dramatic spikes of purple-blue blooms, growing to mounds of about 2 feet tall by 2 feet wide. They'll die back in the winter, but return in the spring.

If you get a small one, give it some room.

Sundance Bicolor

Gaillardia pulchella

A hybrid of blanket flower or Indian blanket (another excellent choice for very sunny, sandy gardens) Sundance Bicolor has globes of tiny mahogany, yellow and orange flowers rather than the daisy-like flowers of its parent. Both Sundance and blanket flower are also good choices for Gulf-front homes - they like the beach life and can tolerate salt spray. Deadhead for more blooms, and don't step on the volunteers if you want a nice mass; they easily re-seed. Once again, water to establish, but don't overwater.

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