Gazania Bud

Day 323: One of Autumn's best border plants, the Gazanias are just starting to put on their first buds. If they survive the browsing deer, there is a good chance that brilliant, showy garden color will linger even past the first snowfalls of the year. I prefer the "Sunshine" mix with its zonal, bulls-eye flowers over the plainer solid varieties: vivid orange, red, pink or white blossoms banded with dark brown, or the striped varieties whose long petals are lined or edged with another hue. Somewhat resembling a Sunflower, Gazanias form eight-inch mounds of dusky blue-green surmounted by four-inch blooms. If you need joy in your Fall garden, easy-to-grow Gazanias will fill the bill!