On 7/25/10 1:22 PM, JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
Yesterday, "rain showers" actually meant someone opened up a fire hose in
the sky. My shasta daisies were almost 5 feet tall, and now they're
flattened. I don't see any broken stems. They're just laying down as if to
say "I'm not takin' any chances". If I cut them back maybe halfway, can I
expect them to flower again? Most of the buds are in the top 1/3rd of the
current stems.



When mine finish blooming, I cut them short with just a few leaves
remaining below each cut. I did the same when something ate the white
petals and left the yellow centers. Then they get new shoots with new
flowers. I can get several bloom periods from late spring into mid-fall.

By the way, it's been 68 days today without measurable rain here. We
probably won't see any rain for another 100 days, in mid-November. East
of the Rocky Mountains, summer is the wet season with more moisture in
summer rains than in winter snows. I'm west of the Rockies, where
summer is our dry season and winter is our not-so-dry season.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary