My house was built in 1882. Two years later, in 1884, botanist Luther Burbank (1849-1926) began to build a better daisy. Another seventeen years passed while Burbank crossed various daisy species. Finally, in 1901, he introduced a new ornamental plant named after one of California’s natural wonders. The Shasta daisy, Leucanthemum x superbum, was born, and today a healthy stand of them are blooming in my front garden. I didn’t think about the daisy’s historical appropriateness when I planted the first gallon pot five years ago. Now, I am gratified that in addition to looking spectacular at this time of year, Shastas are, historically, one of the best plants for my little home landscape.
Another corner of my garden is home to a much smaller stand of Leucanthemum vulgare, the common ox-eye daisy, which is one of the parents of the Shasta. The ox-eye is a winsome plant, gangly at about eighteen inches tall, with narrow dissected leaves and one and a half inch white-petaled flowers. You can find it in fields and other out-of-the-way places, and it is lovely in its own way. Burbank, however, was a great believer in the idea that everything could be made better through science, including the daisy. He created the “All-American” Shasta by crossing the ox-eye, which is native to Europe and parts of Asia with other daisy species that originated in England, Portugal and Japan. All of these adventures in foreign affairs took place at Burbank’s home in Santa Rosa, California. Given its multi-national heritage, it is not surprising that the Shasta became a favorite worldwide.
Shastas are classic “pass along” plants because they are so easy to grow. Like their field daisy ancestors, they are not fussy about soil, and thrive in just about any sunny spot. Once established, they do not need a lot of supplemental water. The plants multiply rapidly into healthy clumps, but if the clumps grow too large, dividing is easy. Simply dig up the clump, divide the roots with a sharp spade or a garden utility knife and replant the divisions. Doing this every few years will keep the plants healthy. When the daisies are blooming, pick the flowers or deadhead the plants to promote rebloom.
Over the years hybridizers have had their way with Burbank’s original. There are more than twenty cultivars currently on the market, including one, ‘Chuck’s Delight’ that can only be obtained by visiting Luther Burbank’s Gold Ridge Experimental Farm in Sebastopol, California.
If you can’t get to Sebastopol, consider going to the local nursery and picking up Leucanthemum x superbum ‘Becky’. ‘Becky’ has big, bright single flowers with crisp white petals and quarter-size yellow centers. It grows to be about three feet tall and blooms in early summer. ‘Becky’ is such a stellar performer that the Perennial Plant Association named it their “Perennial Plant of the Year” in 2003.
Other, slightly shorter single-flowered varieties include ‘Switzerland’ and ‘Alaska’, both of which are about twenty-four inches tall.
For smaller spaces or containers, try little ‘Tinkerbelle’, a dwarf variety that grows only eight inches tall and has single flowers. The slightly larger ‘Snowcap’, at fourteen inches high, is another small space option. For full-size flowers on a relatively compact plant, try ‘Little Princess,’ which grows eighteen inches tall.
For those who like something a little different, there are several double-flowered varieties of L. x superbum. The aptly named ‘Fluffy’ is tall–twenty-eight inches–with a double row of petals. One catalog describes ‘Fluffy’s blossoms as attractively “shaggy”. ‘Aglaya’, sometimes spelled ‘Aglaia’, has petals that are not only doubled but frilled. ‘Crazy Daisy’ goes ‘Aglaya’ one better with “frilled, quilled and twisted” petals. And if ‘Crazy Daisy’ doesn’t cause enough excitement in the garden, then look to ‘Wirral Pride’, a twenty-four inch plant whose blossoms consist of a fluffy short-petaled top crest surrounded by a collar of long drooping petals.
For some hybridizers no combination of frills, quills, crests and triple rows of petals is enough; color is what matters. ‘Sunshine’ is a German hybrid that substitutes sunny soft yellow petals for the white of more common varieties. I found ‘Sunshine’ at a wonderful nursery in central New York State, and it is currently awaiting garden installation. I have high hopes that it will be as vigorous and beautiful as its Leucanthemum x superbum siblings.
There are some people who would probably say, “A daisy is a daisy,” and wonder why anyone would be interested in the many hybrid Leucanthemums. There are others who try to acquire every single cultivar. Most of the rest of us fall somewhere in between those two extremes. If you want to expand your Shasta repertoire, check with your local nursery. For further selections contact Bluestone Perennials, 7211 Middle Ridge Road, Madison, OH 44057, Phone (800) 852-5243, www.bluestoneperennials.com. Free catalog.