Growing Helipterum (Paper Daisy): A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · August 10, 2026
Helipterum, also called paper daisy or Australian everlasting, is an everlasting flower with a papery petal texture that holds its shape and color well whether used fresh or dried.
Sowing
Transplanting is recommended, sowing seed 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost. Direct-seeding after the last frost also works. Either way, press the seed into the soil surface or cover it lightly, since light aids germination. Germination takes 14 to 21 days at 65-75°F. Keep the soil moist until seedlings emerge, and thin to 6 to 8 inches apart.
Harvest before full bloom
Cut fresh or for drying before the flowers are fully open. Like a lot of everlastings, the blooms continue opening after the stem is cut, so an early harvest still finishes into a full-looking flower rather than looking unfinished.
Helipterum has no well-established companion pairings, and nothing it needs to be kept away from. At 4 plants per square foot, it’s a reliable addition to a dried-flower row in the Garden Designer, given well-drained, sandy-leaning soil.
Source: Helipterum (Paper Daisy): Key Growing Information, Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Companion planting guide for Helipterum (Paper Daisy) · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 1-2 ft
Method: Either: Start indoors for an earlier harvest, or direct-sow outside for less fuss. Either works.
When to plant helipterum (paper daisy), by zone
Every zone helipterum (paper daisy) grows in. Pick your zone in the header and it will be highlighted here. Each zone links to its full page.
| Zone | Start indoors | Sow or plant out | Bloom |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2a & 2b | Apr 1–Apr 8 | May 27–Jun 3 | Aug 15–Aug 22 |
| 3a & 3b | Apr 11–Apr 18 | Jun 6–Jun 13 | Aug 25–Sep 1 |
| 4a & 4b | Mar 27–Apr 3 | May 22–May 29 | Aug 10–Aug 17 |
| 5a & 5b | Mar 22–Mar 29 | May 17–May 24 | Aug 5–Aug 12 |
| 6a & 6b | Mar 7–Mar 14 | May 2–May 9 | Jul 21–Jul 28 |
| 7a & 7b | Feb 20–Feb 27 | Apr 17–Apr 24 | Jul 6–Jul 13 |
| 8a & 8b | Feb 4–Feb 11 | Apr 1–Apr 8 | Jun 20–Jun 27 |
| 9a & 9b | Dec 28–Jan 4 | Feb 22–Mar 1 | May 13–May 20 |
| 10a & 10b | Dec 12–Dec 19 | Feb 6–Feb 13 | Apr 27–May 4 |
| 11a & 11b | Nov 13–Nov 20 | Jan 8–Jan 15 | Mar 29–Apr 5 |
Bloom dates are about 80 days after the sow or plant-out date, not after starting seeds indoors.
Zone 2 sows before zone 3 here, which looks wrong and is not. USDA zones rank winter cold, not season length, and zone 2 is mostly interior Alaska, where hard winters come with warm summers. More on what a zone measures.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Helipterum (Paper Daisy) plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 4 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1-2 ft.
Varieties worth considering
- 'Pierrot Red' helipterum: Johnny's Selected Seeds describes this as a dramatic pink-and-black-bloomed selection for fresh or dried flowers, one of their standard named strains of the species. (source)
- 'Pierrot White' helipterum (best for: black-and-white color): Johnny's Selected Seeds describes this as having a unique black-and-white color combination, a striking alternative to the pink-and-black Pierrot Red above. (source)
Why each variety is listed comes from the source shown next to it. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement. The buy links are separate from those sources: they go to seed suppliers that sell that exact variety, and we may earn a commission on some of them.
Where to buy helipterum seeds
None of the seed suppliers we list carries helipterum seeds right now. A local garden center or a specialty seed house is the place to look.
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing helipterum (paper daisy)" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Helipterum (Paper Daisy): An everlasting flower with a papery petal texture that holds up well fresh or dried, also called Australian everlasting.
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