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How to Grow Shasta Daisies: A Cheerful Guide to Planting & Care

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

Botanical Name
Leucanthemum x superbum
Grown as
Perennial
USDA Zones
4a
4b
5a
5b
6a
6b
7a
7b
8a
8b
9a
9b
Toxicity
Toxic to Dogs and Cats
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Water Needs
Low
Height
1–3 feet
Spread
1–3 feet
Soil pH
Neutral
Bloom Time
Summer
Fall
Flower Color
White
Special Features
Container-Friendly
Cut Flower
Disease-Resistant
Long Blooming
Low Maintenance
Attracts Butterflies
Attracts Pollinators
Attracts Songbirds
Deer-resistant
Rabbit-resistant
Resilience
Cold Hardy
Drought-Tolerant
Heat-Tolerant
Salt Tolerant
Plant Type
Flowers
Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Looking to add a pop of sunshine to your garden? Meet the Shasta daisy, cheerful, low-maintenance, and endlessly charming! These classic white-and-yellow perennials are more than just pretty faces. 

With their long blooming season, pollinator-friendly petals, and fuss-free personality, Shasta daisies are a dream come true for beginners and seasoned gardeners alike. In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know to grow and care for Shasta daisies—from planting tips to keeping them blooming bright all summer long.

Shasta daisies return each year in late spring or early summer and continue blooming into early fall, forming tidy clumps about 2 to 3 feet tall and 1 to 2 feet wide. Their glossy green foliage and sturdy stems make them excellent for garden beds, borders, and long-lasting cut flower arrangements. Because they can spread over time and may self-seed, some gardeners choose to remove spent blooms or plant them in contained beds to keep growth manageable.

Buy Seeds Now

These easy-care perennials attract pollinators and provide consistent color throughout the summer, making them a dependable choice for sunny garden spaces, cottage gardens, and fresh-cut bouquets.

Planting

Where to Plant Shasta Daisies

Grow daisies in full sun for the best blooms. 

Soil should be moderately fertile—too 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).

Harvesting

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

Pests and Problems

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

Types

  • ‘Becky’ is a classic variety with large flowers that grows to about 3 feet tall.
  • ‘Cobham Gold’ is a popular variety with double flower heads and a yellow disc carried atop 2-foot stems.
  • ‘Horace Reed’ is an elegant daisy with double white flower heads and incurved disk florets.
  • ‘Snow Lady’ is a fast-growing, erect, bushy perennial that blooms the first year from seed and produces single white flower heads in the summer.

Wit and Wisdom

  • Daisies are one of the April birth flowers. They are also said to symbolize innocence and hope. Learn more flower meanings here.
  • A European native, Shasta daisies are now naturalized throughout North America.

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. 
–Abba Woolson

Flowers

About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening, so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana.

Read more from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Beth</span> Sun, 07/17/2016 - 16:49
My daises have die off already, should I snip off the dead heads, or did I do something wrong, I thought daises bloomed all summer long.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Sun, 07/17/2016 - 23:05

You should indeed deadhead the flowers once the bloom has faded; cut back to where they emerge from the foliage. This keeps the plants from expending energy into making seed. Deadheading will also encourage heavier and more blooming.

 <span>Jim</span> Fri, 07/08/2016 - 19:58
We planted four beautiful Shasta Daisy plants in planters on the deck this spring. They are about 2 & 1/2 feet tall now. Will they survive a New Jersey winter in the planters or should we plant them in the ground this fall? Thanks!
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 07/12/2016 - 11:48

These plants will bloom until about the end of fall. You shouldn't need to plant them in the ground; doing to at the end of bloom may not give them enough time to set up. So, after the first frost date (find yours here: https://goo.gl/fovNKT ) cut the plant down almost to the soil. Lay on a couple inches of mulch. Transfer the container/s to a shed or garage or other cool dark room for winter. This plant does not need light or fertilizer in its dormancy—but it does need a bit of water, a few drops when the soil is very dry (yes, that would be under the mulch). Bring the plants back out after your last frost date, increasing the outdoor expose an hour or two a day. Remove the mulch when new growth appears and begin the regular maintenance. If you want to plant them in the ground, do it in the late spring.

 <span>Debbi</span> Mon, 06/27/2016 - 20:04
If cut after blooming, will shasta daisies bloom again? In Colorado, zone 5. Thanks!! Email dneastwood@comcast.net
<span>Diane Troxell</span> Mon, 05/16/2016 - 18:27
I have a large planting bed inside our courtyard near the front door. I planted 26 Alaska Shasta Daisies and 9 Becky Shasta Daisies. Unfortunately, the right half of the bed gets direct midday Arizona sun. The plants all wilt unless I go out and hand water twice during that time. The left half of the bed gets only an hour or two of sun and those plants are doing great. Will the plants on the right survive the hot sun over time or am I going to need to rip all of those out and replace with something else?
<span>Barbara Huff</span> Sat, 05/07/2016 - 17:26
I am accustomed to cutting/pruning my roses whenever they bloom. Now, I've planted some daisies and I don't know if I should trim back the stems of the daisies that have bloomed or just leave them sitting there? Thanks!
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 05/10/2016 - 13:47

It helps to deadhead daisies, to encourage more blooms. Use pruning shears to remove any flowers that are starting to go by (starting to wither or yellow or brown), before they form seeds. Remove the flower and stem back to the point where a leaf or bud is along the stem.

 <span>Jen</span> Thu, 05/05/2016 - 16:11
I had 5 individual Shasta stems in a pot. I do not have a green thumb! After they died the first season, they just sat there stems and all in this little pot in my backyard. 3 years, doing nothing, just dead stems. Last year, those 5 individual stems became about 30 smaller bushier stems with hundreds of miniature shasta daisies. How does a dead plant all of a sudden come back to life and mutate like this?
<span>Cc</span> Tue, 05/24/2016 - 05:37
Just be thankful, it's awesome.