Growing Osteospermum: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · August 20, 2026
Two different plants are sold as African daisy, and knowing which you have decides how you treat it.
Which African daisy is this
Osteospermum is the one sold as a nursery plant, a South African subshrub that reaches around three feet in mild climates. Our African daisy entry is Dimorphotheca sinuata, the annual sold on seed racks. If you bought a packet, it is probably the annual. If you bought a plant in a pot, it is probably this.
Flowers close at night
Both share the habit of shutting their petals at night and in dull weather. It is normal, and it is the reason the plant looks worst on exactly the grey days you wanted colour.
Hardy only where winters are mild
It overwinters where temperatures stay above roughly 14 to 23°F, so for most gardeners it is a one-season plant. It also pauses through the hottest part of summer and picks up again as autumn cools.
A note on sourcing: the figures here come from a university plant library rather than an extension service, so treat the size and hardiness numbers as indicative rather than precise.
Source: Arizona State University plant library, Osteospermum.
Companion planting guide for Osteospermum · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 4-10. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 1-3 ft
Method: Start indoors: Start indoors from seed, then transplant outside. It needs a head start most zones can't give it by direct-sowing alone.
When to plant osteospermum, by zone
Every zone osteospermum 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4a & 4b | Mar 20–Mar 27 | May 22–May 29 | Aug 20–Aug 27 |
| 5a & 5b | Mar 15–Mar 22 | May 17–May 24 | Aug 15–Aug 22 |
| 6a & 6b | Feb 28–Mar 7 | May 2–May 9 | Jul 31–Aug 7 |
| 7a & 7b | Feb 13–Feb 20 | Apr 17–Apr 24 | Jul 16–Jul 23 |
| 8a & 8b | Jan 28–Feb 4 | Apr 1–Apr 8 | Jun 30–Jul 7 |
| 9a & 9b | Dec 21–Dec 28 | Feb 22–Mar 1 | May 23–May 30 |
| 10a & 10b | Dec 5–Dec 12 | Feb 6–Feb 13 | May 7–May 14 |
Bloom dates are about 90 days after the sow or plant-out date, not after starting seeds indoors.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Osteospermum plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 1 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1-3 ft.
Varieties worth considering
- Akila Daisy White (F1) (best for: heat and dry spells): A 2014 All-America Selections winner, grown from seed, with 2-inch white daisies and yellow centers on a tidy 14 to 16 inch mound. AAS judges noted it kept blooming in the heat and stood up to drought better than other osteospermums. It also won a Fleuroselect Gold Medal in the European trials. (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 osteospermum seeds
True Leaf Market (each supplier's osteospermum seeds)
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing osteospermum" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Osteospermum: The perennial African daisy of the nursery trade, distinct from the annual one sold on seed racks.
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