Gerbera Crush Mix

Gerbera Daisies are so impressive, their huge blooms appearing on strong stems that seem to beg to be part of your best bouquets. The only problem is how much garden space they can take! Crush Mix has solved this dilemma by offering compact plants scarcely a foot high and not as wide with the same gorgeous, large blooms on pencil-thick stems you expect. And just for a bonus, it blooms earlier than all others, too!

This mix contains warm shades of pink, rose, and watermelon-red, very frilly-petaled, semi-double, and reaching 3 1/2 to 4 inches wide. They appear above the large, lovely dark green foliage on compact, sturdy little plants that bloom just 14 weeks from sowing -- several weeks earlier than most, a full month sooner than some! Very long-lasting after cutting, they fill the vase with cheerful, clean color that few other daisies can match. Lovely!

Ideal in containers of all types, Crush Mix is also a good bedding item, and of course is a mainstay of the cutting garden. It loves full sun and appreciates deep, rich soil, so work in compost and other organics and keep the water coming. All colors open at the same time, in every shade of pink from appleblossom to bubblegum, plus rose and soft red tones. You will love this Valentine's Day color combination . . . though it will probably bloom closer the 4th of July and Labor Day!

Sow the seeds uncovered (or dropped into the pre-drilled holes of the sponges in your Bio Dome at about 72 degrees F, or direct-sow outdoors when the soil is thoroughly warm in spring. If starting indoors, the seeds should sprout within two weeks, and can be grown on at 72 to 75 degrees F with plenty of light and fairly high humidity. (Again, in the Bio Dome, leave the dome on, vents open, until the seedlings outgrow their space or become too crowded in the tray.) Transplant when the seedlings have at least two sets of true leaves and the soil is completely warm in spring. Or move them into their container with a good potting mix! So easy and so rewarding over a long midsummer into fall season! Hardy in zones 7-8, grown as an annual everywhere else. Pkt is 10 seeds.