Seed preparation
The seed is light and woolly and tends to clump. Tease it apart with dry fingers, or mix it with a little dry sand so it spreads evenly when you sprinkle it.
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Flower growing guide
Acroclinium is an Australian everlasting daisy with papery pink and white flowers that keep their colour when dried. It is easy from seed sown in the cool season, and this guide covers sowing the fluffy seed, growing strong plants and harvesting flowers for drying.
The seed is light and woolly and tends to clump. Tease it apart with dry fingers, or mix it with a little dry sand so it spreads evenly when you sprinkle it.
Not needed. The seed coat is thin and absorbs water easily.
Not needed. This Western Australian annual has no cold requirement; mild, moist soil is all it needs.
Not needed. Unlike some other everlasting daisies that respond to smoke-water treatment, this subspecies germinates well untreated. Very freshly harvested seed can be dormant for a short time, so home-saved seed germinates best after a couple of months of dry storage.
About 18-24 °C (65-75 °F) in the growing medium. These are mild, cool-season conditions, not summer heat.
Sprinkle the seed over the surface, rake it in lightly and water gently. If you cover it, use only a thin dusting of fine soil or vermiculite.
Well-drained, sandy soil or a free-draining seed compost. Heavy clay gives smaller plants.
Keep the seed moist until it germinates. Water with a fine rose or mist so the light seed is not washed away.
Shallow sowing matters more than total darkness. Seed sown on the surface or barely covered germinates well; seed buried deep may fail to emerge.
Australian growers report 7-21 days, usually within about 10 days; a university seed-starting chart gives 14-20 days at 18-24 °C.
If you sow in trays, grow the seedlings until they are about 2 cm tall, which takes 4-5 weeks, then plant them out into a sunny bed. Move them with a small root ball and water them in.
Thin direct-sown seedlings so each plant has room to branch. Crowded plants grow tall and weak with fewer flowers.
Pinch out the growing tips of young plants to make them branch and flower more. Flowering starts about 10-12 weeks after germination.
In Australia this daisy is sown in autumn. In the Indian plains, sow after the monsoon as the weather cools, so plants grow through winter and flower before the heat. In the hills and in frosty climates, sow in spring after frosts; young seedlings can be damaged by frost.
Plants are naturally adapted to dry, sandy ground. Water according to soil and weather, and a general fertiliser is enough; a rich, wet bed gives soft growth.
Pick flowers in the morning once they have opened, put them straight into water, then hang small bundles upside down in a cool, dry place. Well-dried flowers can last up to two years in arrangements.
Each flower lasts about two weeks and the display runs for 4-10 weeks. Cutting flowers regularly or shearing plants back lightly encourages another flush.
Sow acroclinium for papery pink and white daisies that look fresh in the garden and last for years as dried flowers.
Only very lightly. Sprinkle the seed on the surface, rake it in or dust it with fine soil, and keep it moist. Deeply buried seed often fails to come up.
Yes. Acroclinium roseum and Helipterum roseum are older names for the same plant, which is now called Rhodanthe chlorocephala subsp. rosea.
Cut them in the morning once the flowers have opened, put them in water, then hang small bunches upside down in a cool, dry, airy place until the stems are stiff.
Sow in the cool season after the monsoon in the plains, so plants flower in late winter and spring. In the hills, sow in spring once frosts are over.
