Euryops are some of the most popular floriferous and colourful plants to be found in coastal gardens and summer borders. Although they originate from southern Africa they are fully hardy in UK gardens. They prefer a warm sunny position in well-drained soil where they will flower away from midsummer onwards. Euryops grow and develop quickly into small mounded shrubs and are relatively short lived. To prevent them becoming straggly, and to prolong their lives, they need to be lightly trimmed all over after flowering to encourage the plants to spread and develop evenly.
Euryops chrysanthemoides, the African bush daisy, has purple stems and deeply divided oblong lobed green leaves. The solitary yellow flower heads are around 2in across with a deeper yellow centre and borne on erect stems from midsummer onwards. This is a popular and reliable garden plant.
Euryops pectinatus also grows up to around 3ft in height with a similar spread. The leaves are however greyish and downy rather than green. This species also has long stalked flower heads which are 2in across but those are borne singly or in small clusters so that the plant is absolutely covered in flower. The flowers continue right through the summer and on into winter.
These two species grow well together and can be used as edging plants in a taller growing border. They also make good pot plants to decorate the patio or greenhouse.
At Burncoose those are some of the first plants to go into the mist bench as softwood cuttings in April. These root quickly and can be potted on in summer to produce a decent young plant with some flowers to overwinter indoors. Equally semi-ripe cuttings can be taken from more mature new growth in mid or late summer. As these plants are fairly short lived frequent propagation will allow you to dig out older plants and replace them with more vigorous and floriferous young ones.