{"id":260,"date":"2011-06-20T04:14:35","date_gmt":"2011-06-20T12:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=260"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:32:34","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:32:34","slug":"livingstone-daisy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/livingstone-daisy\/","title":{"rendered":"Livingstone Daisy"},"content":{"rendered":"

LIVINGSTONE DAISY<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My back porch is large and sunny and has always been the perfect port of call for vacationing indoor plants, not to mention pots of herbs and a few containers of colorful summer-flowering specimens.\u00a0 This year those few pots have swelled into an ocean of flowering annuals, courtesy of my bloom-besotted daughter.\u00a0 At the moment, we still have room to walk from one side of the porch to the other, but just barely.\u00a0 If Kate discovers a few more interesting geranium varieties, we will be out of luck.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amid all this floral bounty, the array of brightly colored succulent and semi-succulent daisy-like plants shines forth.\u00a0 Most hail from South Africa and arrived at our porch via local garden centers.\u00a0 The newest addition is Dorotheanthus bellidiformis, sometimes known as the “Livingstone daisy.”\u009d
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My romantic soul hopes that the common name honors Dr. David Livingstone, the nineteenth century physician, missionary and explorer, best known today as the object of reporter Henry Morton Stanley’s query, “Dr. Livingston, I presume?”\u009d\u00a0 Stanley may never have said those exact words and Livingstone may never have gotten to the part of South Africa from which Dorotheanthus hails, but it is nice to think that the name is a tribute to a man who traveled so far and learned so much.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dorotheanthus is a ground-hugging plant, growing only about six inches tall and spreading about 12 inches. \u00a0Its tapered, oval-shaped leaves are succulent and rough, just over two inches long and less than half an inch wide.\u00a0 The flowers, which some writers have described as “iridescent,”\u009d are just less than two inches wide and produced in large numbers.\u00a0 Shaped like conventional daisies, the Livingstone daisies have numerous slender petals surrounding yellow centers.\u00a0 The petals can be shades of white, pink, red or orange and are often bi-colored with bright, white central “eye zones”\u009d ringing the centers.\u00a0 In their South African home, they attract butterflies and would probably do the same thing here.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For the longest time, similar looking plants with names like arctotis, delosperma, and osteospermum, have existed on the periphery of my horticultural consciousness.\u00a0 I was aware of them in garden centers, noted their names and moved on.\u00a0 I did not really see or appreciate them until my daughter started bringing them home to plant in container arrangements.\u00a0 All are hybrids of South African lineage, springing from a part of the African continent that is a cradle of biodiversity and one of the great treasure troves of plant material for the rest of the world.\u00a0 With a few notable exceptions, they are tender in cold winter climates. \u00a0These comely South Africans look as if they should belong to the daisy or Compositae family, but some do not.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Arctotis x hybrida, is also known as “African daisy.”\u009d\u00a0 It often has a dark center, surrounded by brightly colored petals.\u00a0 The flowers may also have dark markings at the base of each petal.\u00a0 Arctotis is closely related to osteospermum.\u00a0 Both are members of the vast Compositae or daisy family, related to common garden perennials like coneflowers and Shasta daisies.\u00a0 Osteospermum also come in bright colors, sometimes with a contrasting color on the underside of every petal.\u00a0 Like many of the African daisies, osteospermum closes its petals in the rain.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Delosperma is not a true daisy, but a member of the Aizoaceae family like my daughter’s Dorotheanthus.\u00a0 Its flowers are somewhat smaller than those of its relative, but are also brightly colored.\u00a0 Both species are low growers, making them perfect as bedding or edging plants and lovely in containers.\u00a0 Sometimes known as “hardy ice plant,”\u009d Delosperma cooperi can survive year-round in cold winter climates.\u00a0 The purple-flowered form of this prostrate plant is probably the most common.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We have a single-flowered purple delosperma planted in the garden, draping its succulent stems seductively over a low wall.\u00a0 The raised setting gives it the good drainage it requires and I never have to worry about it.\u00a0 Our other South African daisies live on the porch and will be beautiful while they last.\u00a0 In just six weeks time, when my daughter goes off to grad school, I will take over their care and feeding.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If “Livingstone daisy”\u009d is an inspiring and evocative common name, “dorotheanthus”\u009d has its own sentimental association.\u00a0 First described by botanist Martin Heinrich Schwantes, the genus was named in honor of his mother, Dorothea.\u00a0 The affectionate tribute makes me wonder whether it was a reward to his mother for taking care of all of his plants when he was away from home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LIVINGSTONE DAISY \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My back porch is large and sunny and has always been the perfect port of call for vacationing indoor plants, not to mention pots of herbs and a few containers of colorful summer-flowering specimens.\u00a0 This year those few pots have swelled into an ocean of flowering annuals, courtesy of my bloom-besotted daughter.\u00a0 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring","category-summer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1531,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions\/1531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}