Crown Daisy Seeds

Crown Daisy, the garland chrysanthemum, stands apart from purely ornamental mums for one reason: it is loved as much in the kitchen as in the garden. Its slender, deeply lobed leaves carry a warm, herbal aroma and a gently bitter, fresh flavour that shine in stir-fries, soups and salads, while the plant still rewards you with cheerful daisy-like flowers in autumn. With this dual personality, plus its full-sun habit and short-day blooming, the Crown Daisy makes a distinctive, productive choice for any home grower.

Planting

Start seed indoors from late winter to mid-spring, roughly 6 to 10 weeks before the last spring frost; spring sowing is the reliable choice, and plants flower the same year with blooms arriving in autumn. Scatter the seed on the surface of the starting mix and only barely press it in. Do not bury it deeply, because the seed needs light to germinate, so keep it under bright light from the start. At a soil temperature of 18 to 21 C with gentle bottom heat, germination takes about 10 to 14 days; sown at around 15 C it usually sprouts within two weeks. Move young plants outdoors once frost danger has passed, around late spring in temperate areas, and always transplant at the same depth they were grown rather than burying the root ball, which would suffocate the roots and invite rot. Space plants about 30 to 45 cm apart, leaving the wider end of that range for more spreading types.

Fertilizing

Before planting in spring, work a low-nitrogen balanced fertilizer into the bed, on the order of 0.2 kg per square metre of a 5-10-5 blend mixed to about 15 cm depth. Through the growing season, give several dilute feeds before the buds set, and on poorer soils add a second, lighter feed of something like 5-10-5 or 10-6-4 around late summer. Keep nitrogen moderate, because while it drives growth and flowering, too much actually delays bloom and reduces the number of flowers. Once the plant is flowering, container-grown specimens benefit from a switch to a high-potassium feed such as a tomato fertilizer.

Care

Give the Crown Daisy full sun, at least 6 hours of direct light a day in summer; in low light it grows weak and spindly and produces few flowers. Keep the soil evenly moist throughout the season but never waterlogged, and because the plant is shallow-rooted it needs frequent watering during hot, dry spells, always with good drainage to prevent root rot; for pots, water once the top few centimetres of mix dry out. Pinch the tips to encourage branching and more flowers: make the first pinch when plants reach about 15 to 20 cm, removing roughly 2.5 cm from each shoot tip, and repeat once new branches reach about 15 cm, stopping around mid-summer. Watch for aphids, leaf miners, leafhoppers, spider mites (worst in hot, dry conditions), caterpillars, capsid bugs, earwigs, and slugs and snails; controlling aphids and leafhoppers matters because they spread viruses. Avoid overcrowding, shade and wet foliage to reduce diseases such as white rust, powdery mildew, grey mould and leaf spot. This is a short-day plant whose flower buds are triggered naturally by the shortening days of late summer and autumn, with bloom from September to November, so keep it away from street or porch lights at night that would disrupt that flowering signal.