How to Grow Gerbera Daisies in Your Garden

Gerbera daisies just make you want to smile! These pretty flowers have long-lasting blooms that come in a variety of bright, happy colors from sunny yellow and hot pink, to bright orange and burgundy among others. Many varieties have bicolored petals showing off multiple colors. They’re quite striking and can be grown in containers or in garden beds.

Native to Africa, Gerbera daisies bloom from late spring through autumn. Gerbera daisies also make great flowers for arrangements in vases, so they’re a fun plant to add to a cutting garden. (Read our cutting garden design tips and ideas.)

Pollinators love them, too, and the flat flower heads make them especially alluring to butterflies and bees. (Here's how to make a pollinator garden that actually works.)

Gerbera daisy flowers can be several inches across atop long, leafless stems above clumps of fuzzy foliage. They can have single petals, rows of double overlapping petals, crested petals with a ring of smaller petals just around the center, or spidery, pointy petals.

I'm a garden writer with more than 15 years of experience growing houseplants, herbs and edibles, and landscape plantings. My houseplant collection includes more than 60+ plants, while my expansive garden includes new annuals, perennials and shrubs that I trial for performance and reliability. I also test home and garden products to evaluate practicality and durability.

• Common Name: Gerbera daisy, Gerber daisy, African daisy, Transvaal daisy
  
• Botanical Name: Gerbera jamesonii
• Plant Family: Asteraceae
• Type of Plant: Annual, or perennial in USDA zones 8 to 10
• Native Origin: Africa
• Sun Exposure: Part sun
• Mature Size: 1 foot tall and wide
• Toxic to pets: No

Gerbera daisies grow well in average, well-draining soils. They do not like clay, which keeps them too soggy. If you have clay soil, plant then in containers instead of in landscape beds.

Plant gerbera daisies in spring after all danger of frost has passed. Space them about a foot apart in beds, with the crown (where the base of the plant meets the roots) at or slightly above the soil level, which helps minimize the risk of the crown rotting from disease.

Gerbera daisies like lots of sun to bloom well, but in the hottest days of summer, they’re happiest with morning sun and afternoon shade. If potted, don’t place the pot up against the house, brick walls, or near driveways, which radiate additional heat.

Avoid overhead irrigation, which encourages disease. The crown also should dry out between waterings.

Gerbera daisies also benefit from a granular slow-release fertilizer a few times throughout the growing season, or you can use a liquid fertilizer when watering.

You also should deadhead the plants down to the next step or leaf to encourage them to keep pushing out new blooms.

In most places you can these plants as annuals. In USDA Hardiness Zones 8 and warmer, however, they can be perennial if there is no hard freeze over the winter. (Find your zone here — but note that the hardiness zones have recently changed.)

If they are perennial where you live, the crown tends to sink into the soil after a few seasons. Dig them up and raise them periodically to prevent crown rot.

If you live in a cold climate and plan to bring them indoors for winter, sink the entire pot in the garden bed, or simply keep them as potted plants throughout the season.

Bring them indoors when temperatures start to dip below 60°F. Keep them in a cool area (50° to 60°F) and barely moist. Or you can set them on a sunny windowsill and water occasionally. Typically, they don’t do great indoors as houseplants, so move them back outside when temperatures rise in spring.

‘Garvinea Sophie’ has 2 1/2-inch flowers red-pink flowers that work well when planted en masse in landscape beds

'Garvinea Sweet Memories’ has double flowers in soft pink

‘Karoo’ features 5-inch-wide pink and cream flowers

‘Mega Revolution Orange Dark Eye’ has beautiful 5-inch-wide orange flowers with a dark center

Gerbera daisies aren’t super-fussy, but they are prone to a few common issues:

Common pests

These include whiteflies, aphids and spider mites. (Here's our spider-mite pest guide.) You can try to blast off aphids with the garden hose every few days, but you may need to use neem oil or insecticidal soap, which must contact the insects to be effective, to reduce populations of other pests. Don’t spray these products in full sun or when temperatures are above 90°F, because it may damage the plants.

Common diseases

Soil that stays too wet contributes to crown and root rot. Allow the soil to dry slightly in between waterings to reduce disease risk, and avoid overhead watering, when possible.

Also, do not crowd your plants to allow for good air circulation. If your plant turns to mush, unfortunately, it’s too late to save it.

Fortunately, gerbera daises are not toxic to pets, according to the ASPCA. However, any plant can cause tummy upset and GI trouble if eaten in large enough quantities.

If you suspect your pet has ingested any, even if you’re not sure, call your vet ASAP. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.