Garden

[shellgirl]

Does anyone know about how many years the hardy gerber daisies will survive if properly cared for?

[BirkiLady]

Thought they were perennials. They should come back year after year (and will multiply, too). Be ready to divide them periodically. 

[spot555]

I live in Wa state....weather variance, & WET.

Originally I put all mine in the ground. After the first year, I think 3?? survived. I dug them out, & put them in pots. They liked that- no issues. When it gets really cold/freezes, I just move the pot to a warmer place on my covered deck. That works for me, & they do just fine. 

[shellgirl]

I am in Zone 6b and did not have any luck with ones I planted in ground after having wintering them in garage for a couple years.  In Q & A someone said they were only 3-year perrenials, which didn't make sense to me, but thought maybe that's why they didn't come back.after planting in ground. I know perennials come back but does that mean 20-30 years?  Guess it depends on care and weather/moisture conditions?  Thanks for your response!

[Kachina624]

I think Gerber Daisies are one of the more difficult perennials to grow.  I have no difficulties with growing any other plant but have killed a Gerber after owning it 20 minutes.  Bought one, brought it home and put on covered patio.  It was dry so I watered it.  When I looked again a little later it was dropped over and never recovered.  I gave up buying them.

[hayseed00]

@Kachina624   I agree with you about Gerber daisies.  I have quite a few flower gardens, but for the life of me I can finish off a Gerber daisy in about 4 days !!!

[lulu1]

Add me to the list of those who have difficulty with Gerbera daisies.  After the buds (present at purchase) bloom, I never get another bud on the plants.

[JustJazzmom]

Gerbera daisies are originally from South Africa, so you may have to have those conditions in your garden for success. 

In zone 7 I had bought them in the past, put them in well drained soil & full sun. Once they bloomed, they finished & didn’t rebloom later in the season. 

Where I am we treat them as tender perennials or annuals. 

Enjoy them if you have them.

[gardenman]

I had good luck carrying potted ones over in my unheated coldfame for a couple of years, but then they died. When it comes to perennials, there are long-lived and short-lived perennials. Gerbera Daisies always seem to be a short-lived perennial for me. And there are lots of short-lived perennials. The "buy it once and you never need to buy it again" line people use for perennials ignores the fact that regardless of how well cared for they are, most perennials have a lifespan. They don't just live forever. Some have a two, three, four year lifespan. Some live for fifty years. Some seemingly live forever. The expected lifespan of a perennial varies wildly.

You can find lists of the expected lifespans of perennials online, but I find that the lists and my real world experience are often a bit different. Most lists have tulips and hyacincths as being short-lived perennials, but I have some that are thirty plus years old and still going strong. Most Rudbeckia are listed as long-lived perennials, but I have a hard time keeping any past five years. The same with Echinacea. My back garden bed was awash in Rudbeckias and Echinacea, but they're all gone now.

Very few plants live forever, so the term perennial is a bit misleading. Everything dies eventually. The oldest living plant is somewhere around 5,000 years old, and that's extremely rare, but plants have been around a lot longer than 5,000 years. In most cases if you can get five years or so from a perennial, you're doing okay, just don't expect the plants to live forever as nothing does.