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How to Grow Shasta Daisies: The Complete Shasta Daisy Flower Guide

Learn how to plant and grow shasta daisies, a classic perennial.

Botanical Name
Leucanthemum x superbum
Plant Type
Flower
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Soil pH
Neutral
Bloom Time
Summer
Fall
Flower Color
White
Hardiness Zone
4
5
6
7
8
Special Features
Attracts Butterflies

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Planting, Growing, and Caring for Shasta Daisies

Catherine Boeckmann

The cheerful Shasta daisy is a classic perennial. It looks similar to the familiar roadside field daisy but has larger and more robust blooms. Here’s how to grow Shasta daisies in your garden!

About Shasta Daisies

A European native, Shasta daisies are now naturalized throughout North America. Like clockwork, these daisies return every spring or early summer and bloom until early fall. They can be aggressive growers, so if you don’t want them spreading, choose varieties that don’t produce viable seeds or remove flowers before they go to seed. Because they are capable of spreading and are non-native, consider keeping them contained in garden beds away from wild areas.

Shasta daisies tend to form clumps that are 2 to 3 feet tall and 1 to 2 feet wide. They bear all-white daisy petals, yellow disk florets, and contrasting glossy, dark green leaves. Shasta daisies are terrific as cut flowers, as their blooms can last a week or more in arrangements.

Black bees on the clover-heads drowsily clinging,
Where tall feathered grasses and buttercups sway;
And all through the fields a white sprinkle of daisies,
Open-eyed at the setting of day.
鈥揂产产补&苍产蝉辫;奥辞辞濒蝉辞苍

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Planting

Grow daisies in full sun for the best blooms. 

Soil should be moderately fertile鈥攖oo rich, and you’ll get more vegetation than flowers. The soil should also be moist but well-draining.

To improve soil fertility before planting, loosen the soil to a depth of 12 to 15 inches, then mix in a 2- to 4-inch layer of compost.

When to Plant Shasta Daisies

  • Sow seeds in containers in a cold frame in autumn or spring.
  • If you seed directly, expect blooms after one season’s growth the following spring.
  • If purchasing a plant in a container, plant in spring or early fall.

How to Plant Shasta Daisies

  • Space plants 1 to 2 feet apart. Dig a hole twice the diameter of the container.
  • When placing the plant in the hole, make sure the top of the root ball is level with the soil surface.
  • Fill around the root ball and firm the soil.
  • Water thoroughly.
  • Taller plants may need support/staking.

Growing

  • Water during the summer only if rainfall is less than 1 inch per week. Daisies are generally tolerant of dry spells once they are established.
  • Every spring, apply some compost and mulch to help control weeds.
  • As flowers fade, deadhead to extend the blooming season.
  • After the first killing frost, cut stems back to an inch or two above the soil line. (See local frost dates.)

Dividing Daisies

To keep daisies blooming their best, plan to divide them every 2 to 3 years in early spring (before flowers appear) or in late summer or early fall (after flowers fade). Signs that a plant should be divided include:

  • Less-vigorous foliage growth
  • Smaller flowers or fewer flowers overall
  • Parts of the plant appear sparse or dead (especially the center of a clump)

How to Divide Daisies

  1. Use a spade or garden fork to loosen the soil around the plant, then gently remove it from the soil, doing your best to leave most roots intact.
  2. Brush or shake off soil from the roots. Then, using a sharp knife or pruning shears, divide the plant into two or more pieces, ensuring that each piece has at least a few stems and healthy-looking roots. Discard any diseased or damaged pieces.
  3. Replant the divisions as desired (spaced about 1-2 feet apart).

Types

  • 鈥楤别肠办测’ is a classic variety with large flowers that grows to about 3 feet tall.
  • 鈥楥obham Gold’ is a popular variety with double flowerheads and a yellow disc carried atop 2-foot stems.
  • 鈥楬orace Reed’ is an elegant daisy with double white flowerheads and incurved disk florets.
  • 鈥楽now Lady’ is a fast-growing, erect, bushy perennial that blooms the first year from seed and produces single white flowerheads in the summer.

Harvesting

  • Shasta daisies make for a lovely cut flower, lasting a week or more in arrangements.
Gardening Products

Wit and Wisdom

Pests/Diseases

Daisies are generally low maintenance and disease resistant. However, the following may occasionally be troublesome:

Flowers
About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it鈥檚 not surprising that she and The Old Farmer鈥檚 蜜桃恋人 found each other. She leads digital content for the 蜜桃恋人 website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann
 

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Comments

Will wait for your reply. What is best way to stop them from vole damage?

Heather (not verified)

7 years 5 months ago

Many of my daisies have "split" heads, where there are two fully formed centers that are connected in the middle (like if you split two eggs but left them a little conjoined). I thought it was just 1 head until I started looking and there are many of them. What is this?!

Aya (not verified)

7 years 7 months ago

I bought some full grown Daises a month ago, but all stems are yellow and pale now, the fully blossomed flowers dried out and fell. The weather is getting a bit hot here now but I water them daily and they are already in Compost soil. What should I do?

Your shasta daisies were probably forced for spring-seasonal sales. These are typically late summer bloomers. Read above. By 鈥渞eturn every spring鈥 that means sprout. They would mature and flower later in season. As you can imagine, their seasonal cycle went haywire when they bloomed for spring. You can try to correct that, but it might take a year or two. Retrieve the plants from the compost (if the roots are intact) and put them into the ground or in a pot. Water them normally, not daily. Plants, unlike people, do not need constant hydration in hot conditions. Please understand that there is no guarantee that these plants will come back but you will never know if you do not try. (You can also purchase a new plant, one that is/was not forced.) We hope this helps.

Maureen Earl (not verified)

7 years 7 months ago

We had a bed of shasta daisies planted (professionally although not sure that necessarily means correctly) two years ago. Beautiful flowers the first spring. The next spring I fertilized as I read I was supposed to, and only got a few random blooms and barely any stems at all. Now, in NC it has been warm, and there are no signs of shoots starting yet. Any advice? I don't think I have had them long enough to split them, but not sure why they only bloomed the first year. Thanks!!

There are, apparently, several varieties of shasta daisy. You might want to contact your professionals and ask what you have. The only other thing we can think of is pH. Sources vary; we’ve seen recommendations from 6.0 to 8.0; another suggests less than 7.0. Could it be that your fertilizer contained too much of the N, the P, or the K? As contrasted with, say, a balanced fertilizer? Does your soil have good drainage? They do not like to stand in water. Those would be our considerations …

Joy Johnson (not verified)

7 years 7 months ago

A friend shared lots of Shasta daisies and black eyed Susans about 8 years ago. Every spring they returned and I had a glorious flower bed. 2 years ago the shastas did not return but susans did. I am heart broken to lose these wonderful flowers. Do shastas have a life span? I live in zone 7 and they were in full sun.

Daffodil2456 (not verified)

5 years 7 months ago

I suspect the black eyed Susans pushed out the Shasta Daisies. They seem to be very greedy for space (at least in my beds) and I've lost other plants when they took over.

If the central portion of the shasta daisy clump begins to die out, that’s a cue that it’s time to divide. Normally, this plant needs to be divided every few years to maintain its vigor. The best time to do this is spring, but this is a tough perennial so you could probably try any time of year as long as you avoid the hottest periods of summer.

Sonal Bhatnagar (not verified)

7 years 7 months ago

Is it too late already to sow Shasta daisy seeds in Houston (zone 9)? If not, is it better to direct sow outside, or give them a chance a germinate in pots first? Thanks.