Fleabane, the rockwall daisy

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Its blooming looks exactly like that of lawn daisies, only much taller — a low haze of little flowers spilling over beds, edges and rocky ground. Fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus) is best known for flowering from spring to fall; give it a nice sunny spot in ordinary, rather light soil and the display constantly renews itself.

Ease of care, planting and the attention you give it will especially boost blooming.

Planting fleabane

In spring or fall preferably, locate a nice sunny spot to plant your fleabane, it can really support the blooming.

In summer, planting can still be proceeded to, but take care to water more regularly.

Just like the aster, ordinary soil mixed with a bit of soil mix is perfect.
Avoid compact and heavy soils that would retain water instead of releasing it to the plant.

To nicely cover a surface, plant around 8 or 9 flowers to a square yard (1 m²).

In order to multiply your fleabane, divide the bunch in spring every 3 or so years.

Care and pruning of fleabane

Very easy to grow, fleabane only needs very little care.

During planting, water when the soil has dried to help the root system get set up.

In fall, after the blooming or at the beginning of spring, cut back the crown as short as possible.
This step aims at snipping all stems down to a height of about 4 inches (10 cm) from the crown head, to stimulate the growth of fleabane while promoting the next flowering.

• Once established, Mexican fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus) tolerates dry spells in open ground, so watering can be reserved for specimens in pots, wall crevices or dry stone, which dry out far faster than a bed.
• Garden Erigeron, one of several plants called fleabane, generally flowers best in ordinary, well-drained soil without feeding, since rich or nitrogen-heavy ground tends to encourage lax, leafy growth rather than blooms.
• Erigeron karvinskianus self-seeds freely into gravel, paving joints and wall cracks, so leave the seedlings where you want the carpet to spread and pull out the rest while they are still small.
• In gardens with cold winters, delay the hard cut-back until early spring rather than autumn, as the old stems shelter the crown of the less hardy Erigeron karvinskianus through frost.

Fleabane season by season: what to do when

Fleabane asks for very little, but the few tasks it does need are tied to particular moments of the year. Here is what each season calls for, at a glance.

Keep to this simple rhythm and the blooming renews itself from spring right through to fall.

All there is to know about fleabane

A plant for flower beds, edges or rocky land, fleabane is spectacular from spring to fall thanks to its generous blooming which constantly renews itself.

This easy perennial hails from North America and adapts very well to any temperate climate. Even though some species like karvinskianus aren’t so hardy and need a relatively hot climate to thrive, most species are hardy.

The fleabane or erigeron genus has over 200 denominations, some of which are grown as annuals. The blooming looks exactly like that of lawn daisies, but it’s much taller.

The most famous species are Erigeron karvinskianus, glabratus, alpinus, uniflorus, dimity, paolii or violetta.