PICAYUNE — Ice Star Shasta looks like coconut topping
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist. Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
It’s easy to love Shasta daisies, but when they look like shredded coconut on top of round cupcakes, they seem good enough to eat.
Last week we filmed a Southern Gardening segment in Mississippi’s hot Delta at the Wister Gardens in Belzoni. It’s called The Delta’s Garden, but the readers of Mississippi Magazine recently honored Wister as Mississippi’s Best Garden.
There in the gardens the daylilies were doing their part to steal the show, but there was one combination I found absolutely riveting. The Ice Star Shasta daisy was paired with Knockout shrub roses.
If you’ve never seen Ice Star, you might not recognize it as a Shasta. Shasta daisies are among the most loved perennials in the country, and they are included in more weddings than you can imagine.
It’s odd that we talk so much about varieties of other perennials but go generic when it comes to the Shasta. In recent years we’ve seen new selections like Angel Daisy and Darling Daisy; Becky was recently selected Perennial Plant of the Year.
Other popular selections are Snow Cap and the dwarf selections Silver Princess, Little Miss Muffet and Snow Lady, the All-America Selections winner. But the Ice Star takes honors for being the most unique-looking Shasta selection.
Shasta daisies have the potential to be around for a long time, so it really pays to prepare your soil. Choose a site with at least six hours of sunlight. In the South, the flowers should get a little late afternoon shade during the heat of the day.
The soil should be fertile and well-drained; soggy conditions in summer or winter simply will not work. If you have tight, heavy clay, incorporate 3-4 inches of organic matter like compost or humus and work your soil to a depth of 6-8 inches.
Shastas are great about giving you more plants, so divide in the fall, spacing them 12-15 inches apart. Make this a yearly ritual to keep those glorious blooms coming at their best.
There are lots of landscape possibilities besides combining them with Knockout roses. Another garden I saw featured them with Harlequin Blue scabiosa, or pincushion flower, and Beacon Silver lamium.
The lavender-blue partner Harlequin Blue scabiosa is no slouch, producing blossoms that are almost as intricate as Ice Star’s blooms. Gardeners are beginning to realize the groundcover-like ability of the Beacon Silver lamium, which has showy variegated silver leaves with green margins and light purple flowers.
Shasta daisies are cold hardy from zones 4-10, which means most of the country can relish in their beauty. You may be asking yourself why you don’t already have Shasta daisies. While I will decline from pointing fingers lest I look in the mirror, the answer may lie in our desire for instant gratification.
Shasta daisies are most often sold as healthy, green transplants that will turn into majestic beauties later in the season. This is really how we should buy all of our perennials, but the desire for instant color leads us down another path.
While varieties like Ice Star may be for the connoisseur, the Shasta daisy is certainly a great choice for the garden.
Features
Related Photos
-
Norman Winter/MSU Extension Service
Ice Star Shasta looks like coconut topping
Southern Gardening
- Features
-
-
Community leaders participate in Jr. High Career Day
Community leaders and former students joined 8th grade students in the library of Picayune Junior High School for Career Day last Thursday. Career Day is held the last week of school each year, in conjunction with a tour of Picayune Memorial High School.
-
Lucille Gasecki:Volunteer, artist and winner of the June Summer Blues Out poster contest
Lucille Gasecki is the winner of the 2012 2nd Annual June Summer Blues Out Poster Contest and this week’s Picayune Item Super Senior.
-
South Miss. Branch Experiment Station in All-America Selections Design Contest
South Miss. Branch Experiment Station, located in Poplarville, is one of 22 select All-America Selections (AAS) Display Gardens competing in the 2012 AAS Landscape Display Contest.
-
OES Carriere Chapter #105 installs officers
Order of the Eastern Star (OES) Carriere Chapter #105 officers were installed Saturday during an open installation at the Carriere Lodge.
-
ARBORETUM PATHS: Sweetbay magnolia and our glorious native orchids
By Patricia Drackett, Director, The Crosby Arboretum/ MSU Extension Service
Something downright amazing is taking place right now that, without someone pointing it out, most likely would pass you right by. I’m referring to the incredibly subtle but exquisite blooms produced by our sweetbay magnolias. -
Bill Roberts speaks on N.O. Cotton Expo
The New Orleans Cotton Exposition of 1884-1885 was the subject of the program at the Historical Society meeting held May 9th at Crosby Memorial Library.
-
PRC Sheriff’s Department Chief Investigator Donnie Saucier
Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department Chief Investigator Donnie Saucier is by no means a self promoter. He is a fighter with a strong sense of right and wrong. The family man and loyal friend lives by a simple set of priorities: God, family and work. This priority set has led him into a life of public service in the battle against illegal narcotics, which began before he was 21 years-of-age.
-
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church hosts local elementary schools at its Second Annual Choral Festival
Singers and listeners squeezed into pews at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for the second annual Spring Choral Festival featuring choirs from the four Picayune public schools.
-
Our family was reunited in California
Dr. Stanley Watson/Syndicated columnist
At the ripe old age of 16 I made my way from Randlett, Oklahoma to California looking for work. The first job I applied for was washing dishes in a Greek café and I was hired on the spot. -
Partners for Pearl River County Leadership Class 2012
The 2012 class of Partners for Pearl River County Leadership Program held the graduation ceremony on Friday, May 4th, in The Link at First Baptist Church on Goodyear Boulevard. Congressman Stephen Palazzo was the guest speaker.
- More Features Headlines
-
Ravi Spared Prison in Rutgers Webcam Case
Miss. Prison Quiet After Riot; 1 Dead
Obama Confident Afghans Can Take Security Lead
Raw Video: Deadly Bombing at Yemen Parade Preps
Professor: Chinese Activist's 'Spirit Is Good'
Ring of Fire Eclipse Seen in U.S., Asia
Golden Gate Bridge Celebrates 75 Years
G-8 Seeks Unity on Euro-debt Crisis, Iran
Prosecutors: Trio Planned to Attack Obama's HQ
Obama: G8 Unified in Stance on Iran, Syria
