Re: Those Darn Shastas!

Laurie,

I have some Burpee Chryanthemum superbum 'White Knight' (Shasta
daisies). They are are about 12-18" tall and have 3-4" flowers. The
bloom the first year from seed was quite nice and the first bloom this
season almost hid all the foliage. I kept them deadheaded and they just
bloomed and bloomed and bloomed...

We got some frosts followed by warm weather and I still got a few
blooms! No pests or diseases so far. The Shasta's get full sun all day
and are in a raised bed with good ferile soil and drainage. I'm hoping
I can find some Shasta's with longer stems for cutting this year that
are as nice.

I planted some Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (field daisy, Marguerite,
ox-eye daisy, poorland flower, white daisy, whiteweed) because I had
read that that beneficial insects prefer them over cultivated daisies.
Apparently my beneficials read a different book as they congregate
around the Shastas and totally ignore the ox-eyes.

The ox-eyes got powdery mildew both years I had them. Ox-eye daisies
are also in my database of Kansas plants as a naturalized non-native
and Washington state has quarantined them as a threat to native plants.
They do have a very pretty wildflower look but, on balance, it seemed a
good idea to get rid of them.

I think I read something that the people in charge of classifying
plants had switched Shasta's? or garden mums? to a new category and
then back again to the old one. I'm not sure I have any of it quite
straight--perhaps someone knows what the correct name is now.
Chryanthemum superbum was the name on the seed package.


At 2:57 PM -0500 1/21/99, LAURIE_WAKEFIELD@NON-HP-USA-om11.om.hp.com wrote:

>      Despite all the agonizing over shasta daisies last summer,
>      when I kept hearing the words "prolific bloomer" I decided
>      to grow some from seed this spring.
>     
>      Here is the question: which kind were we talking about, and what
>      recommendations does anyone have?
>     
>      I have seen seeds for Chrysanthemum x superbum, and Leucanthemum x
>      superbum, L. maximum x L. lacustre, Asteraceae (?)
>     
>      ...or as Alaska, Queen, King, Little Princess, Snow Lady, Marconi,
>      Esther Read, Miss Muffett, Northern Lights etc....!
>     
>      Are all these cultivars (if that is the right word) of
>      Chrysanthemum x superbum? (if that is the right name)?
>     
>      And is Ox Eye Daisy the same as Shasta?!
>     
>      Yikes, all I wanted was a flower.
>     
>      Laurie
>      Medford, MA(ssachussetts)
>      Zone 6


---
Peggy Enes (peggy@unicom.net)   Zone 5/6    NE KS     AHS Heat Zone 7


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