Leucanthemum maximum Seeds | Shasta Daisy
LATIN NAME: Leucanthemum maximum
COMMON NAME: Shasta Daisy
Plant Profile
Shasta daisy is a garden hybrid rather than a wild species, raised in the 1890s by Luther Burbank from the Pyrenean Leucanthemum maximum crossed with related daisies. It forms a clump of coarse, dark green leaves and stiff stems sixty to ninety centimetres tall, each carrying a white daisy with a yellow centre in early and midsummer.
Named forms differ in height, flower size and the number of rows of petals, from the single wild-type flower to the shaggy doubles. The foliage stays green through winter in mild areas, and the clump expands year by year until it dies out in the middle.
Science & Biotechnology
The plant is a case study in hybrid vigour and in the difficulties of naming garden plants, since the original crosses involved several species and the parentage is still debated. Modern breeding has focused on producing sterile, long-flowering forms that do not set seed and therefore bloom for months.
Research on the genus has also looked at the chemistry of the flower heads, which contain sesquiterpene lactones of interest for their bitterness and their biological activity. Cytological work has shown that some garden forms are polyploid, which helps explain their vigour and their size.
Uses & Benefits
It is a classic border and cutting plant, and its white flowers are among the most useful for filling a vase in early summer. It works at the back of a mixed border, in a wildflower-style planting, and in a white garden, where its flowers light up the evening.
The flowers are long-lasting when cut, and they can be dried for winter arrangements if picked before they are fully open. Bees and hoverflies work the open heads, so a clump in the vegetable garden brings pollinators in at a useful moment.
In a cutting garden the stems should be picked when the flowers are half open, and the lower leaves stripped, since they rot in water. The plants are also used in large drifts at the edge of a lawn, where the white flowers read from a distance and the clumps can be left undisturbed for years between divisions.
Growing from Seed
Sow in spring at 15-20C, barely covering the seed, and expect germination in two to three weeks. Plant out in full sun in moist but well-drained soil, and water in the first season.
Divide clumps every two or three years, in spring or early autumn, since old plants die out in the centre. Deadhead to prolong flowering, and stake tall forms in exposed sites. In a border, plant it behind lower perennials so that the stems can lean without staking, and water at the root rather than over the foliage. Lift and replant the outer pieces of an old clump, discarding the woody centre.
Our Take
The Shasta daisy is a workhorse of the summer border: cheap, reliable, long-flowering and easy to divide. It is not subtle, but it earns its space.
Related Reading
Readers interested in Shasta Daisy frequently explore these as well: