Shasta daisy · Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China
When to sow shasta daisies in Ürümqi
Main outdoor window
27 Apr - 25 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
13 April
In Ürümqi, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jun - 31 Aug
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Ürümqi
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
8 Jun - 6 Jul
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
27 Apr - 25 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
In flower
1 Jun - 31 Aug
Shasta daisies through the year
Against the frost risk in Ürümqi
Why these dates
Plant out after the last frost. Divide every second or third spring: the centre of a clump dies out and the plant declines noticeably in its fourth year if left alone. Deadheading extends the display by several weeks.
Hardy to -30C. Rots in a wet winter on heavy ground, which is the usual reason a healthy clump fails to reappear in spring.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Shasta daisies are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Ürümqi.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Ürümqi is zone 6b, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 1, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Also in Ürümqi
Other flowers to time
Growing shasta daisies in Ürümqi
When should I plant shasta daisies in Ürümqi?
Aim for 27 Apr - 25 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 9 May - 6 Jun - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will shasta daisies be ready to harvest in Ürümqi?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jun - 31 Aug, based on 110 to 140 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will shasta daisies tolerate?
Hardy to -30C. Rots in a wet winter on heavy ground, which is the usual reason a healthy clump fails to reappear in spring.