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30-06-2003, 05:44 PM

From: (Jay Chan)
Date: Mon, Jun 30, 2003 9:34 AM
Message-id:

I mistakenly plants some shasta daisy flowers in area that is too
small for them because I have totally under-estimated their sizes in
maturity. Now, I have two problems:

1. They are too tall for the small flower garden. That is not
the kind of look that I want.

2. After a couple days of rains, their branches are falling all
over the place -- very messy. They are pushing over the small
annual flowers in the garden border.

I should have chosen other daisy-like plants that are much shorter (my
wife likes daisy-like flowers). I am not planning to replace them yet
unless I have no choice. I would like to know if I can somehow keep
them short. I am under the impression that I can keep mum short and
bushy if I cut them in summer (early summer? late summer?). Can I do
the similar thing to shasta daisy to keep them short and bushy?

Is there something that I can do to keep them short this year? Is that
too late now that they have started flowering now?

Is there anything that I can do to prevent them from getting too tall
for next year?

Please help. Thanks.

Jay Chan

You can, within reason, treat Shastas like mums by cutting them back a couple
of times early in the season. (Cut back the bloom stalks to the second set of
leaves below....and you can probably do that now to good effect). It will help
to keep them shorter and bushier, as well as delaying bloom. You may very well
be able to keep your plants within bounds for this year. However, each variety
has its own nature and you won't be able to control them as much as you might
like. (Not to mention that they spread from the roots and need division
often.....) You'll want to look into acquiring one of the very nice compact
varieties for next year.

Best,
Tyra
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