Is this in your garden?
Take a photo and Garden Rescue will tell you what you actually have, and what it needs this week.
Get the iPhone app Browse the guideOxeye Daisy
Leucanthemum vulgare
Also called Dog Daisy, Field Daisy, Moon Daisy
About Oxeye Daisy
This is a native perennial wildflower across Ireland. It forms low leafy rosettes before sending up classic white daisy flowers. Pollinators love it, and it thrives in unpampered garden soil.
- Type
- Herbaceous perennial
- Height
- 1–2 ft
- Spread
- 1–1.5 ft
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Low once established
- Soil
- Well-drained, lean soil
- Hardiness
- Hardy to -20 °F
- Flowers
- May to August
- Growth
- Clump-forming rosette
- Toxicity
- Mildly toxic to cats and dogs if eaten
- Native to
- Europe and temperate Asia
How to recognise it
- Spoon-shaped dark green leaves
- Rounded scalloped leaf edges
- Forms low ground-hugging clumps
- Classic white petals with yellow centres
Caring for Oxeye Daisy
Watering
Every week- How often
- Once a week during dry spells
- How much
- About 0.5 in of water
- When
- Morning
- Tips
- Soak the ground near the base. Keep the water off the leaves.
Feeding
- How often
- Do not feed
- What to use
- None needed
- When
- None
- How
- None
Pruning
- When
- Autumn or late winter
- How
- Cut spent flower stalks right down to the basal clump.
- Tips
- Leave the low green leaves intact over winter.
Jobs it will ask for
- Clear weeds around the base Pull out nearby nettles and thistles by hand. That stops them crowding this rosette.
- Top-dress the bare soil Spread a thin 1 in layer of compost around the plant. Keep it off the crown.
Through the year
Spring
New stems will shoot up quickly. Keep weeds away from the base.
Summer
White daisies bloom all through midsummer. Deadhead them to extend blooms.
Autumn
Snip old flower stems back. Let the basal leaves rest for winter.
Winter
The leafy clump will stay semi-evergreen through normal cold snaps.
What to watch for
- Floppy weak stems
- Too much fertiliser or shade causes floppy stems. Give it lean soil and direct sun.
- Slugs eating young leaves
- Pick them off by hand on damp evenings.
Written by Garden Rescue from photo identifications, in US units. Local advice from your extension service or garden centre beats a general guide.