Need some help identifying a plant (photos within)

[Pool Hall Ace]

Hi gardeners, I don't believe I have posted in this forum before, and I don't know that much about gardening, so I could really use your help in identifying this plant.

My husband bought a flat of these from a lady who was doing some landscaping at one of his job sites. He doesn't know what it is, and I don't know how to contact her.

The flowers are dying on most of the plants. They are receiving sufficient water (I think), so I don't know if I need to put down some compost, feed them, or if it's just their time to not be in bloom.



Thanks for looking! :hi:

[Botany]

1. best guess some kind of Annual Coreopsis ......

If it is an annual ( any type of annual) ... just cut off the old flower heads and keep it watered and it will put
up new flowers up 'till frost.


The leaf looks like an artemisia though

[XemaSab]

2. It's definitely a composite

(which is a large and confusing plant family that includes daisies, sunflowers, and more).

The leaves aren't quite lanky enough for chamomile, but you could probably taste it and do a simple yea or nay.

[Tsiyu]

3. Feverfew has flowers like those

but the leaves are different.


Maybe some cultivar of daisies, bred to be more bushy than the usual lanky daisy?

I would deadhead - that is, break off old blooms. That sometimes encourages more bloom. When the plants don't get deadheaded, sometimes they think, "Well, that's it then" and they go to seed.

Do the flowers smell like apple?

Good luck figuring it out. They are pretty plants.

[beac]

4. Based on the "ferny" foliage, my guess is some variety of Cosmos.

And deadheading should kick them back into blooming (don't be discouraged if it takes a while.)

[Pool Hall Ace]

5. I forgot to mention that I have been deadheading the flowers.

I was concerned at first that new flowers were not coming back right away, so I see that is not an issue.

I don't detect the apple scent that Tsiyu mentioned, so I'll keep trying to figure out what these are! :)

[Blue Gardener]

6. Oxeye Daisy

Google some pictures and see if you think that's what it is. If it is, you should have more than you know what to do with in a couple of years. I have some and they reseed very easily. I don't really mind, they look great if you can get a big patch going.

[Denninmi]

7. You have annual Margeurite Daisies.

Argyranthemum frutescens. Technically a tender perennial grown as an annual.

Pretty common in the plant trade, but frankly, not always the best plant for the East/Midwest, and definitely NOT good for the South during the heat of summer from what I've observed here in Michigan -- they do NOT like the heat. The warmer the summer the fewer the blooms. More of the kind of thing that would do well in very mild climates like S. California during the cool winter seasons.

Here's a link to the Proven Winners sight showing some of the different colors. Enter "Argyranthemum" into the search box to bring them up:

http://www.provenwinners.com/search/?cx=002434005836988681966:sl42cyduzso&cof=FORID:9&ie=UTF-8&q=Argyranthemum

Unfortunately, as I said, they are cool weather plants and do NOT bloom well during the summer. Daylength may be a factor as well. I've found they bloom in the spring, pretty much quit by mid-June with just a smattering of flowers, and then bloom again pretty well from Labor Day-ish until the frost takes them, which is usually late October here. They tolerate a pretty decent frost, but a hard freeze will usually do them in. I usually pick up just one or two for mixed containers every year because I'm a sucker for the colors, but I know they will spend most of the summer just as boring green bushes.

BTW, you CAN grow them indoors over the winter as a houseplant if you have very, very bright light and good ventilation to avoid mildew.