Growing Gazania: A Complete Profile

By Growing Home Greens Team · August 20, 2026

Gazania is built for the conditions that kill most bedding plants: heat, poor soil, and inconsistent watering.

It prefers being neglected

Rich soil and steady water produce leaves and few flowers. Poor, sharp-draining soil in full sun produces the display. This makes it one of the few reliable choices for a hot edge square or a container that dries out between waterings.

Flowers close in shade

The flowers open in direct sun and shut otherwise, including on overcast days. Planted somewhere that gets afternoon shade, it will spend half its time closed, which is a placement problem rather than a plant problem.

Sizes and season

Six to twelve inches tall and wide, flowering spring, summer and fall. NC State Extension lists it as perennial in zones 9 through 11 and notes it is best grown as an annual in containers or hanging baskets elsewhere.

Seed needs darkness to germinate, so cover it, which is the opposite of most of the small annuals in this dataset.

Source: NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, Gazania rigens.

Companion planting guide for Gazania · Find your planting dates

Typically viable in USDA zones 3-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.

Method: Start indoors: Start indoors from seed, then transplant outside. Gazania needs a head start most zones can't give it by direct-sowing alone.

See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →

How many Gazania plants fit per square foot?

Spacing: 2 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 0.5-1 ft.

Where to buy gazania seeds

• Botanical Interests
• True Leaf Market
• Burpee
• High Mowing Organic Seeds

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Some links on this page also go to other retailers we may earn a commission from as an affiliate, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products with a genuine consensus of positive, independent reviews. See the sources cited on each item.

See it growing

Search YouTube for "growing gazania" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)

Pin this for later

Growing Gazania: A low, drought-hard annual for a hot dry square, with flowers that close whenever the sun goes in.

Save to Pinterest