Blue Felicia bush

Shrubby Felicia, Bush Felicia, Blue Marguerite, Blue daisy bush, Paris daisy (Eng.), Bloumagriet, Blou-astertjie (Afr.)

A fast growing and long flowering, evergreen, thickly branched shrub with sky blue petals around a bright yellow centre. The Blue Felicia bush brings aesthetic beauty to any temperate and rocky garden. Being a versatile and popular garden plant, it serves many purposes ranging from being a purely ornamental plant, to being used to stabilize sand dunes and preventing erosion.

Planning

Difficulty

Easy

Flowering time

Summer, Autumn, Spring

Fruiting time

Summer, Autumn

Harvesting

Flowers can be cut early to mid-flowering season and are long-lived left on the bush.

Propagation

Seed

Sow seeds during Spring. Space 0.5m apart and sow 1.5 times deeper than the size of the seed. Germination time is less than 1 month.

Cuttings

Use non-flowering stems, cut just below a node, strip off bottom leaves, treat with growth hormone and place in damp ground. This quicker method will result in plants that should flower soon.

Special features

Attracts useful insects

Insects such as small flying insects, bees, butterflies and wasps.

Pot plant

Grows well in large containers given enough sun and sufficient drainage holes.

Drought resistant

Drought tolerant once well established.

Attracts birds

Attracts nectar-feeding birds.

Geography

Origin

The coastal strip of both the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces, South Africa.

Natural climate

Coastal

Environment

Light

Full Sun

Soil moisture

Moist

Soil type

Clay, Loam, Sand

Soil PH preference

Acid, Neutral

Frost hardiness

Half-Hardy

Uses

Notes

Versatile garden plant (ground cover) that is frost hardy.

Personality

Family

Asteraceae

Flower colour

Blue or white with yellow centres., Blue, Yellow

Scent

None

Problems

Pests include white-flies and aphids. Disease includes cottony soft rot (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum).

Aphids

Aphidoidea spp.

Companion plants

Geranium incanum (carpet geranium), Hemizygia transvaalensis (pink salvia), Nylandtia spinosa (tortoise berry), Pelargonium crispum (crispy-leaved pelargonium) or P. reniforme (kidney-leaved pelargonium) and Scabiosa africana (pincushion). In semishade on