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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
Plant Type
Flowers
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

Bright, Bold, and Blissfully Easy: Bring Sunshine to Your Garden with Shasta Daisies!

Catherine Boeckmann
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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.

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.

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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.
–Abba Woolson

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Planting

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).

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.

Harvesting

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

Pests/Diseases

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

Wit and Wisdom

Flowers
About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

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

Betty L Fenicle (not verified)

1 week 6 days ago

Question: do u cut shasta daisy back in the fall?

Joel Williams (not verified)

1 month 1 week ago

Thank you for the useful information
It’s most appreciated.

Dennis Hubbard (not verified)

1 month 2 weeks ago

I grow them fine in zone 9b...

Susie (not verified)

1 year ago

I planted Shasta Daisies I bought from a nursery, within a week all the pedals disappeared! Not enough water? Compost? Did a bird steal them for their nest??

Hi Susie,

Sorry to hear about your shasta daisies. There could be a number of factors that led to the petals dropping—not the correct soil composition at the time of planting, incorrect watering or soil is not well-draining, or shock from the transplant. It’s also hard to know how long the flowers have been in bloom prior to your purchase. You should deadhead the spent flowers and hopefully there will be more blooms to come in the coming months.

Cindy (not verified)

3 years 1 month ago

Watch for the bugs...Shasta Daisies are beautiful, but mine attracted an abundance of earwigs that were attacking the other plants in the garden as well. When I dug up the daisies, I found that the earwigs were nesting all around the roots, there was an entire community! Unfortunately, I removed all of the Shasta Daisies in my organic landscape rather than deal with a maintenance of ridding them. I haven't had a problem with earwigs for 2 years now.

Joan Clow (not verified)

3 years 11 months ago

To A. Rockwell - please research the plant and company and reviews. May not be what they portray. Seemed too good to be true.
To Almanac - thank you for your solid advice on daisies.

A ROCKWELL (not verified)

3 years 11 months ago

Miracle Daises (according to internet) are a type of Daisy which grows spiral pattern; green seed garden has them; they are really spectacular; (id never heard of them; I might try the seeds);

Pat (not verified)

4 years 1 month ago

Daisies have always been one of my favorite flowers. In fact, they were the flowers in my bridal bouquet.