african daisy tired and dry

I have african daisies in large pots on my deck. They do get a lot of sun, but they receive plenty of water and just enough fertilizer. The plants still are dry and looking as if they are on their "last leg"! I also dead head regularly. I thought they were to last until frost with proper care. Pleae help.

Can you post a picture? That might really help narrow down the possibilities. They do tend to stop blooming when the weather gets hot, but at least with mine (which are planted in the ground) the leaves always look healthy. My first suspect in situations like this is a watering issue, either too much or too little. If the pots are very large relative to the size of the plants and you're watering them a lot, then they could be getting too much water. Or conversely if the plants are getting to the point where they're rootbound, then it can be next to impossible to get them enough water. The other thing I've found with container plants is that some container mixes get dry very easily and it takes a lot of effort to rewet them. This means that often the first bit of water that you add to the container pretty much just runs straight through so the plant never gets it, and if that's all the watering you did then they may be way too dry. So when you do water, you need to give them a thorough soaking to make sure that the water is actually reaching all parts of the rootball.

I have been under the impression that African daisies couldn't take direct sun? Also, that their natural habitat is very foggy and misty, so they do well in places like shower windowsills, where they can absorb the moisture throught the leaves. The site I checked also said that they usually grow in shallow holes in rocks where enough dirt has collected, so they like a rockier, tighter container? I have been using this method with my one African daisy, and it is looking very healthy, putting out new leaves, but it isn't putting out any new flowers. If anyone has any advice on how to get more flowers, or when it is the right time to change to a bigger pot, I'd enjoy that.
Also, as to the very dry soil, I put one of those trays that go under the planter to catch the water, and keep it full until the plant has 'sucked' up all the water it can hold. Maybe that will help, too?

Just to be clear, the African Daisy I'm referring to is Osteospermum, there are a few others that go by that name as well (Arctotis is one that I can think of off the top of my head, and I think I've seen Gerbera referred to by that name too) For the Osteo's, I'm not sure about your area but here they do just fine in full sun, but they'll typically bloom in spring and early summer, then slow down during the hottest months, then sometimes bloom a little more in the fall. Arctotis can handle full sun here too, Gerberas can too but when I tried them at my old house they did best with some afternoon shade, otherwise they wilted every hot day. I grow my osteospermums in the ground so I can't speak for what they need in containers. They don't seem to need much humidity though, they grow like crazy in my garden without a ton of water, and our air of course is very dry. Is yours indoors? If you've got it inside and it's not blooming I'd suspect it's not getting enough light (this would be true for Osteospermum, Gerbera, or Arctotis...but if your African daisy is something else then maybe not)

Um, this is embarrassing, but I have a violet, not a daisy. Totally different, huh?

Yes, totally different! Now I understand where all the stuff you were saying came from, I had never heard that about African daisies, but it's very true for African violets! LOL I don't know too much about AV's, but I do know that they need bright light in order to bloom, so what I said about it not getting enough light as the reason why it's not blooming is probably still true.

I will expose it to light more now, and see if that helps. Thanks :>)