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Scientific: Osteospermum fruticosum (Synonyms: Osteospermum riparium, Dimorphotheca fruticosa, Calendula fruticosa)
Common: trailing African daisy, freeway daisy, shrubby daisybush
Family: Asteraceae
Origin: South Africa

Pronounciation: Os-tee-o-SPER-mum fru-ti-CO-sum

Hardiness zones
Sunset
All zones as an annual, zones 8, 9,11-24 as a herbaceous perennial
USDA All zones as an annual, 9-11 as a herbaeous perennial.

Landscape Use: Ground covers, large and small scale, container plant, hanging basket, floral accent, winter or summer annual for flower borders depending on ecoregion.

Form & Character: Low, prostrate and spreading, bright, cheerful with a tinge of mystery caused by the amazing flowers.

Growth Habit: This a semi-succulent, herbaceaous perennial with a sprawling and trailing, prostrate habit that only grows to 12-inches tall. A single plant can spread to cover up to or more than 50 square feet of landscaped area.

Foliage/Texture: Alternate, narrow espathulate to oblanceolate succulent green leaves to 4-inches long, leaves with a few coarse serrations, succulent stems sometimes have a purple cast; medium texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Trailing African daisy produces a literal carpet of perfect ray flowers born on 6-inch stalks, multiple flower colors available. Fruit inconspicuous, but fertile.

Seasonal Color: White, yellow, orange and/or purple flowers in winter and early spring in Phoenix. In colder climates, can bloom during summer.

Temperature: In Phoenix, African daisy is cold tolerant to 25oF. In summer, it will not survive once summer temperatures rise above 105oF (which first occurs each year in late spring, not even summer yet). Thus, African daisy is used in Phoenix as a cool season annual bedding plant.

Light: Full to partial sun.

Soil: Tolerant of soil alkalinity, perfers a sandy soil texture.

Watering: Needs regular supplemental water applied in Arizona desert landscape gardens.

Pruning: None, except to control spread.

Propagation: Roots extremely easy from softwood cuttings.

Disease and Pests: BROWN SNAILS! Yikes, these snails are aggressive and eat trailing African daisy like its some new Blizzard at Dairy Queen.

Additional comments: Trailing African daisy was once overused in California landscapes as a ground cover. In Phoenix, because of the high summer heat, trailing African daisy can be grown only as a cool season bedding plant. There is a growing number of outstanding cultivars including:

A similar species, Osteospermum ecklonis (cape marguerite), is a perennial (cool season annual in Phoenix) with a subshrub habit. It has flowers of various colors ranging from white, brilliant yellow, pink to purple.

Some taxonomic notes: As noted above, the genus Dimorphotheca is often listed as a synonym of Osteospermum. Horticulturally this is confusing as plant use in landscape gardens is so often predicated on the climate of the site. Botanically speaking though, a principal difference between Dimorphotheca and Osteospermum is that the former is an annual, whereas the later, Osteospermum, is a short-lived perennial, even though in Phoenix both taxa are grown as cool season bedding plants.