Gerbera jamesonii seed

LATIN NAME: Gerbera jamesonii

COMMON NAME: Barberton Daisy

Barberton daisy is the cheerful, oversized daisy of the flower shop, and it comes from the warm grasslands of the south of Africa, where it grows along the stream banks of the Barberton district that gave it its name. The large, velvety, single or double heads sit on long, straight stems above a low rosette of the lobed, softly hairy leaves, and the colours run from the clear orange and the red through the pink, the yellow and the white. It flowers freely through the warm season and is one of the great cut flowers of the world, keeping its fresh look for days in the vase.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

Horticulturists and botanists both have worked on the Barberton daisy for a long time, and the modern florist’s varieties come from the breeding and the selection of the wild species. The vase life of the cut heads, the way the flower holds its colour and the best conditions for raising the plants from seed have all been worked on, and the results show up in the practical growing guides and the floriculture journals. The plant is also a quiet subject of the work on the natural colours and the bioactive compounds in the petals. It has a long paper trail in the flower-breeding science, so the information is reliable and the methods are well tested.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The economic value of the Barberton daisy sits squarely in the cut-flower and the pot-plant trade, where it is one of the most widely grown of all the daisies. In the garden it is a bright, dependable summer flower that fills the beds, the borders and the pots with colour for months, and the long, strong stems make it a favourite with the flower arrangers. The flowers pull in the bees and the butterflies, and the plant keeps producing if the spent heads are taken off. It has been written up in the horticultural papers for its toughness and its long flowering, and a row of it in the sun is a fine, generous show.

The Barberton daisy was discovered growing wild in the Barberton area of the south of Africa, and the first plants were sent out to the growers of the world in the late years of the nineteenth century. The wild form has the single, warm orange-red heads, and the long programme of the breeding has added the pinks, the salmons, the creams and the bicolours, along with the double and the crested forms. The flowers keep their fresh look for a long time in the vase, which is one of the reasons the plant is so widely grown by the commercial flower growers. It also does well in the bright, warm room and the greenhouse.

To raise the Barberton daisy from seed, sow the fine, slender seeds on the surface of pots of moist, gritty, free-draining soil and press them in without covering them, since they sprout in the light. Keep the pots in a bright, warm spot and water them gently from below so the surface stays lightly damp. The seedlings are up within a couple of weeks, and they grow on quickly into strong young plants that can be potted on and set out when the weather is warm. A sunny, well-drained spot gives the best, freest flowering.

Gerbera jamesonii:

Gerbera Daisy (Gerbera Jamesonii Hybrids Mix) – This mix of flowering daisies is so impressive your neighbors will all be asking where you got this beautiful mix. You can tell them that you grew your own Gerbera Daisies from flower seed! This Gerbera flower seed mix produces compact plants scarcely a foot high and not as wide with gorgeous, large blooms on pencil-thick stems.
Gerbera Daisy plants are a tender perennial. They grow everywhere as a colorful annual, and have a tremendously long bloom season. They are also a good bedding item, and of course a mainstay of the cutting garden. The flowers loves full sun and appreciates deep, rich soil, so work in compost and other organics and keep the water coming.

Sow Gerbera Daisy seeds indoors 8 – 10 weeks before the last frost. Use starter trays and sterile potting mix. Place the pointed end of the flower seed down when sowing, and barely cover the seeds as they need light to germinate. Transplant outdoors once danger of frost has passed. You may also sow Gerbera Daisy seeds directly outdoors when soil temperatures are warm.