Gerbera jamesonii, a giant daisy

Gerbera jamesonii is one of the five best-selling cut flowers. If you'd like to make your own colorful bouquets, plant a few specimens in your garden. But beware, this plant of the Asteraceae family is native to South Africa and Eswatini. Not very frost-resistant, it can be grown as an annual in most regions.

Gerbera jamesonii is an herbaceous perennial. When in flower, it can reach a height of 75 centimetres.

Green foliage forms a tuft at the foot of the hollow stem. The hairy, leathery leaves grow in a rosette. They are lanceolate and measure up to 40 centimetres long and 14 centimetres wide.

In South Africa, the giant daisy blooms between September and December. In the northern hemisphere, it blooms from April to October. The botanical Gerbera jamesonii produces red or orange flowers. But it has given rise to numerous cultivars with single or double, pink, white or yellow flowers.

At first glance, the flower looks like a single blossom, with numerous narrow petals and a dense center. In reality, it's a capitulum-like inflorescence, made up of a multitude of small flowers. In the center, the flowers are fertile and produce seeds. On the peripheral disk, what we think of as petals are actually rays. They are arranged in two rows and attract pollinators. They act as a landing strip when they come to feed on the center.

Gerbera jamesonii is not toxic. It poses no danger to humans or animals. On the contrary! Giant daisies are very popular with pollinators.