Erigeron Profusion flowers its heart out all summer long, opening white and aging through pink to wine-purple with blooms at all stages simultaneously. I fell in love with this plant at first sight and have never regretted having it in my garden. It tumbles over the edge of raised beds, grows though gravel and stones, has a home between patio paving stones and has even settled at the bottom of a wall where there is no soil at all. In every location it just flowers and flowers. And if it gets a bit too enthusiastic, I cut it back and then it pushes out fresh growth and flowers all over again. In our garden it doesn’t die right back unless we have a prolonged very cold spell. With both an RHS AGM and a place on the Plants for Pollinators list, this really is worth its space in your garden.
🌸 Flowering: May to November
📏 Height: to 30cm
🌿 Perennial, may need protection in some areas
💧 Drought tolerant when established
Sow: February to July and in October. Erigeron seeds are tiny so try sowing a small pinch in each module. Surface sow and don’t cover. Germination takes 2-4 weeks. When large enough harden off and plant out each module as a little clump once plants are 2-3cm tall, spacing at 25cm apart. Can be sown under glass in October for planting out the following spring.
Grow: this plant loves a well-drained position in full sun and needs little attention. If a clump gets a bit big by mid-summer just trim back and it will resume. Then, in early spring cut back old stems to ground level. You can lift and divide large clumps every 2-3 years in March to May, replant the younger growth.
If you fancy these growing between paving stones this is how I’d do it: clear out old weeds and debris from the cracks. Fill the clean cracks with a gritty, well-draining compost or a mix of soil and sharp sand. Moisten the mixture, scatter the seeds and press them down on the surface then mist with water. Keep the gaps damp until the tiny seedlings emerge, protect from passing feet until the plants are established.
Enjoy: months of flowers from places where there seems to be no soil at all. Combine with creeping thyme amongst paving, grow at the front of the border along with candytuft, use at the base of tall Verberna bonariensis or add flower power to the bottom of a wall.
🏡 In your garden
• Coastal and rock gardens
• Gravel gardens and prairie planting
• Cottage and informal gardens
• Urban spaces and courtyard gardens
• Patio and container plants, edging, borders and beds
• Banks, walls and slopes and underplanting
• Wildlife gardens
🐝 Pollinator friendly
• RHS Plants for Pollinators recommended
• Particularly welcome late season, providing nectar and pollen well into autumn
💡 Did you know?
Erigeron is also known as as Wall Daisy and Mexican Fleabane. Wall Daisy reflects its remarkable ability to make itself at home in cracks and walls. Fleabane comes from an old belief that dried plants from this family could be added to bedding to keep fleas and lice away.
Save
Save
