Osteospermum ecklonis Blue Eyed Beauty - African Daisy

Osteospermum ecklonis Blue Eyed Beauty catches folks attention from a distance with these purple blue centered yellow flowers. Osteospermum ecklonis Blue Eyed Beauty is a short lived perennial. Plants can be expected to live 2 to 3 years. Seedlings often do not come true. And the plants sometimes revert to the standard flower colors. All of that being said this plant catches folks attention and blooms for a long time. I like to use them as a focal point. Plant in a sunny bed, don't water too much once established. Flower production drops off if the night temperatures stay too warm. A showy plant for the coast. Osteospermum ecklonis Blue Eyed Beauty is a great plant for attracting the Painted Lady, Gray Hairstreak, White Checkered Skipper, Northern White Skipper, California Common Ringlet, Mormon Metalmark, Great Purple Hairstreak, and the Mournful Duskywing Butterflies. Seedlings can be abundant, this is an issue if you want your plants to maintain this coloration. Cutting off the flowers or periodically cutting back the plants solves both of these problems. But there are a lot of flowers. For a groundcover use expect the plants to revert if you don't dedicate enough time to handle each of the plants regularly. Plants are winter hardy to somewhere in the 20°'s F range. Osteospermum ecklonis Blue Eyed Beauty can bloom from late Winter through Fall. Summer is sometimes spotty for flowering if night temperatures warm or if the plants were not deadheaded during the Spring.

Plant pages from the genus Osteospermum featured on this site:
Osteospermum ecklonis Blue Eyed Beauty
Osteospermum Bright Lights * Red Freeway Daisy
Osteospermum fruticosum * Freeway Daisy
Osteospermum Spider White