Mexican fleabane
Erigeron karvinskianus
also called santa barbara daisy, latin american fleabane
Wants the hottest, driest, poorest corner available, and almost nothing troubles it there.
- Type
- Flower · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Foliage color
- Green
- Flower color
- White
- Sunlight
- Full sun in a hot, dry spot.
- Watering
- Drought-tolerant; keep it out of damp ground.
- Feeding
- No feeding; poor soil suits it.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- May
- Pruning
- Cut it hard back in early spring.
- Mar–May Spring Growth
- May–Sep Flowering
- Sep–Nov Growing
- Nov–Dec Leaf Fall
- Jan–Mar Leaf Fall
- Plant spacing
- 17.7 in
- In-row spacing
- 17.7 in
- Between rows
- 22 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
- Root system
- Fine and fibrous, close to the surface
- Working depth
- 6–12 in
- Can reach
- 18 in down where the soil allows
- Spread
- 18 in–2 ft across, about 1–1.5× the width of the plant
- Shallowest pot
- 8 in of soil
The whole root system sits in the top hand-span of soil, so this is the first thing in the bed to feel a dry week and the last thing that should meet a fork. Hoe shallowly around it, and mulch instead of digging.
It seeds itself into wall crevices, paving joints and steps, rooting in almost nothing, which is exactly why it is planted and exactly why it turns up everywhere afterwards.
The habit is Mexican fleabane’s own; the figures are what that habit usually comes to at this size, not a measurement of this species. Roots follow the soil either way: a compacted pan, a high water table or heavy clay stops them well short of any of it, and deep open ground lets them go further.
- Generally trouble-free No notable pest or disease problems when grown in the right conditions — one of the easy ones.
Lavender, Thyme, Sedum
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com