Flower · Asteraceae
When to sow tickseeds
Yellow daisies over a very long season on a plant that asks for nothing. The large-flowered kinds are short-lived; the threadleaf types persist for years.
Start seed indoors
8 weeks after
Counted from your last spring frost.
Plant out
2 weeks after
Counted from your last spring frost.
Sow direct
1 week after
Counted from your last spring frost.
Those weeks become real dates once you name a place.
Timing, in frost-relative terms
Seed packets rarely give calendar dates, because a date that suits one latitude is wrong at another. They give offsets from the last spring frost instead, and those offsets are what make tickseeds plantable anywhere.
- Start seed indoors 8 weeks after the last frost.
- Plant out 2 weeks after the last frost.
- Sow direct 1 week after the last frost.
- Expect a first worthwhile crop in year 1 after planting.
- Hardy in USDA zones 4a–9a.
Getting the timing right
Plant out or sow direct after the last frost. Shear the plant back by half when flowering slows in midsummer for a second flush that lasts to autumn. Deadheading is what keeps it going, so a neglected plant simply stops.
Frost tolerance
Hardy to -25C, though the large-flowered forms often behave as biennials in a wet winter and are worth resowing. Needs good drainage.
Classified as hardy, with damage expected below -25°C (-13°F)-13°F (-25°C).