Gadenin日本語Get the appThe shape of the year
Gazania's year has four clear phases: raising or waking plants in late winter and early spring, planting out and establishing once frost has gone, a long flowering stretch through summer that is really just deadheading, and a late-summer decision about whether to keep the plant going. The last of those is the one most gardeners skip, and it is the one that saves money and gives earlier flowers next year.
Everything shifts with your climate, so the table below uses seasons rather than months. The two fixed points to anchor it to are your last spring frost and your first autumn frost; almost every job hangs off one or the other.
| Season | Main jobs | The decision it turns on |
|---|---|---|
| Late winter | Sow indoors 8-10 weeks before last frost; wake and pinch overwintered plants | How early you want flowers |
| Early spring | Pot on seedlings; prepare beds with grit, no rich compost | Whether your soil drains well enough |
| Mid to late spring | Harden off over 10 days; plant out after the last frost | Is the soil above 60F (16C) yet |
| Early summer | Water only to establish; one light feed; first flowers open | Stop watering once growth is away |
| Midsummer | Deadhead every 3-4 days; watch for aphids and thrips | Nothing but keeping up with the deadheading |
| Late summer | Cut plants back by a third; take basal cuttings | Whether you keep this plant or start again |
| Autumn | Grow on rooted cuttings; lift or protect plants in mild areas | Will your winter low stay above 25F (-4C) |
| Winter | Keep young plants cool, bright and nearly dry; no feed | Resist watering them |
Late winter and early spring: getting a head start
If you are growing from seed, sow indoors about eight to ten weeks before your last expected frost, in warmth of around 70F (21C). That timing gives plants big enough to flower not long after they go out. Sowing much earlier than that just means leggy plants waiting indoors for weather that has not arrived.
Overwintered cuttings wake up in the same window. Increase watering slightly as growth restarts, pinch out the growing tips once to force branching, and start a weak feed only once you see new leaves clearly expanding. Do not be tempted to pot them into much larger containers; a plant sitting in a big volume of cold wet compost is a plant at risk of rot.
This is also the time to prepare the ground. Fork grit or sharp sand into any bed that stays damp, and raise the planting area slightly if the site is flat and heavy. Deliberately skip the compost and manure that you would give most bedding.
Spring into early summer: planting out
Wait until all danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed to about 60F (16C) before planting out. Gazania planted into cold wet spring soil sits and sulks and is far more likely to rot than one planted a fortnight later into warm ground. Harden plants off gradually over about ten days first.
Space plants ten to twelve inches (25-30 cm) apart, plant so the crown sits at or just above soil level, and give them one good watering to settle. After that, water only enough to keep them going for the first two or three weeks while roots take hold, then stop almost entirely. A single light low-nitrogen feed at planting is all the feeding the season needs in open ground.
First flowers usually open a few weeks after planting out, and once the plant starts it should not stop. If flowering is thin at this stage, look at the light on the spot before you look at anything else.
Midsummer and late summer: the working months
Through the hottest weeks the job is deadheading, every three or four days, cutting each spent stalk right down to the base of the rosette. Watering should be rare - only in a genuine extended drought, and then a deep soak. Container plants need more, when the top couple of inches have dried out. Check flower stalks for aphids and the open flowers for the silvery streaking that signals thrips while you are deadheading.
In late summer, cut plants back by roughly a third to bring on a fresh flush and to tidy the sprawling open middle. Do this while at least six weeks of warm weather remain. At the same time, take your basal cuttings, because the shoots produced after a cut-back are exactly the material you want and the weather is still warm enough to root them fast.
This is the moment to decide what you are doing with the plant. If your winters freeze hard, the outdoor plant will die and cuttings are the only way to keep it. If your winter lows stay above roughly 25F (-4C), the crown may survive in the ground, and clearing the debris around it and keeping it dry improves the odds considerably.
Autumn and winter, and what to keep a record of
Once frost blackens the foliage the outdoor season is finished. In mild areas cut old growth back, clear any mulch or leaf litter away from the crown so it stays dry, and leave it. In cold areas lift and dispose of the plants and rely on the rooted cuttings, which spend winter somewhere cool, bright and above about 40F (4C), watered every two or three weeks at most and never fed.
For records, the most useful things to keep are: the date of your last spring frost and first autumn frost, the date you planted out, the date of the first open flower, the date of the late-summer cut-back and how long the second flush took to arrive, and the date and success rate of your cuttings. Add a note of which position each plant occupied. Two seasons of that turns gazania from a plant you gamble on each spring into one you can time deliberately.