Osteospermum fruticosumTrailing African Daisy

The Osteospermum fruticosum, commonly known as the Trailing African Daisy, is a prostrate, fast-spreading perennial from the Cape coast of South Africa. Trailing stems root as they run and carry thick, slightly fleshy grey-green leaves, covered through the cooler months with mauve and white daisy flowers that open with the sun.

It closes ground faster than almost any other flowering ground cover and flowers hardest in winter and spring, when much of a dryland palette is quiet. It is used on banks, verges, medians and in wide beds where fast, colourful cover is wanted.

Specifications

• Height0.2 to 0.3 metres
• Width1 to 1.5 metres, spreading by rooting stems
• Native toThe Cape coast of South Africa
• FoliageThick, slightly fleshy, grey-green leaves on trailing rooting stems; evergreen
• Growth rateFast

Conditions

• SoilPrefers well-drained sandy or gravelly soils; tolerates poor and alkaline ground and dislikes waterlogging
• LightFull sun
• WaterLow; drought-tolerant once established
• ClimateThrives in Mediterranean, arid, semi-arid and coastal regions; flowers hardest in the cooler months

Additional Features

• FlowersMauve and white daisy flowers with darker centres, carried heavily through the cooler months and opening with the sun
• UsesBank and slope cover, verge and median planting, wide bed mass, fast colour cover on new sites
• SpacingPlant 0.5 to 0.8 metres apart for a closed cover within one season
• Low MaintenanceCut back after the main flowering flush to prevent the centre going bare; no feeding required
• Pest ResistanceGenerally robust where drainage is good
• Drought ToleranceGood once established, holding foliage through summer on low irrigation
• Salt ToleranceTolerates coastal salt wind, reflecting its origin on the Cape coast
• Erosion ControlThe rooting trailing stems bind loose material on banks and verges quickly

The Trailing African Daisy is the fastest route to flowering cover on a bank, and it performs in the season when most of the palette has stopped.