In early summer of 2012, I was at the local nursery & a really beautiful White Gerbera Daisy caught my eye. I planted it where it received 4-5 hours of sun throughout the day. I was new to gardening at the time, so I didn't note a specific name other than "Gerbera Daisy." I was under the impression it was an annual. It grew beautifully over the summer and fall and even continued to bloom during winter months and onto into the summer of 2013. By fall of last year, the foliage was still lush and huge, but the blooms became less and less. So, I dug it up and divided it into 3 separate plants.
Because this flower thrived so nicely and seemed to be perennial, I bought a few more in orange and pink in spring of 2013. At the time, I noticed the leaves looked a little different- duller, bigger and not nearly as pretty as my white one. Anyway, those Gerbera Daisies just didn't do very well. When the sun hit them, they wilted, and I was constantly treating them for powdery mildew. However, the original one I had with white flowers never ever got powdery mildew & only wilted if I hadn't watered them in about 2 weeks.
I starting thinking back to when I first purchased the white Gerbera Daisy and recalled the lady at the nursery distracting my attention from the colored Gerbera Daisies and redirecting it a few feet away to these lush beautiful white ones. She told me that the white ones were so much better (or something to that effect.) Well, thank goodness I believed her!
This past week, I was at a different garden nursery and saw a display of newly set out and watered orange, yellow, and pink Gerbera Daisies. I studied them for a moment and realized the foliage was dull and much darker than my white ones (which have lighter green color and have a little shine to them.) Aside from the pretty colorful flowers, they looked more weedy than anything.
My question is: Are there different types of Gerbera Daisies? Are some hardier than others? My white ones even survived our very cold winter this year which included several frosts and freezes and a sleet/ice storm. The foliage handled frosts just fine, but turned to mush during the first hard freeze. It was even flowering at the time! This was just in January of 2014! Now here it is late February, and new leaves are growing on all 3 and one even has an emerging flower!
Below is a picture of my white Gerbera Daisy. That is...even if it is a Gerber Daisy! If it isn't, please let me know LOL If it is a Gerbera Daisy, I would sure like to purchase some more this spring if I can find them again at the same nursery I originally purchased them at.
Thanks!
