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Treasure flower

Diego Delso / Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 3.0

Treasure flower

Gazania rigens

A low, mat-forming South African daisy that turns the hottest, driest, leanest corner of a full-sun garden into a sheet of brilliant colour all summer. Large orange, yellow, bronze, pink, or striped flowers - often with a dark central ring - open over narrow dark-green leaves that are white-felted beneath. Superbly drought-, heat-, and salt-tolerant and ideal for coastal and gravelly sites, but its flowers close in shade and on cloudy days, opening only in bright sun. Frost-tender: a perennial only in zone 9 and up, it is almost always grown as an annual bedding plant in cold climates.

Climate fit: narrow (34/100)

Border

Filler

Container

Light

Full sun

Water

Low water

Mature size

6-12" tall · 10" apart

Hardy in zones

9a-11

frosty to nearly frost-free winters

AHS heat range

5-12

Plant range authored in AHS heat-zone terms.

Native in Illinois

No

Grown purely as an ornamental bedding and ground-cover daisy.

°C

°F

Cold hardiness

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

Plotwright

USDA Zone 6b

-5°F to 0°F

Won't grow here

2050

2100

Zone 7a

Plotwright

0°F to 5°F

Won't grow here

In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.

✕

Out of range today and still out of range in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 4 ecoregions - 3 climate-resilient through 2070 · 1 newly possible by 2070. Best matches first.

California coastal sage and chaparral

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Eastern Australian temperate forests

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Fynbos shrubland

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New Zealand North Island temperate forests

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What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun

Water

Low water

Spacing

10"

Habit

A low, spreading, mat-forming perennial with narrow dark-green leaves (white-felted beneath) and large, brilliant daisy flowers in dazzling orange, yellow, bronze, pink, or striped tones, often with a dark central ring, all summer - the treasure flower. It is superbly drought-, heat-, and salt-tolerant, making it excellent for hot, dry, gravelly, and coastal or seaside plantings, but its flowers close in shade and on cloudy days, opening only in bright sun, so it is no good for shade. Frost-tender, it is almost always grown as an annual bedding plant in cold climates and is a true perennial only in zone 9 and up. In mild climates it can become invasive on coastal dunes and disturbed ground (parts of California and Australia). Grown for its flowers, not for food - it is inedible.

Care tips

•

Give it the brightest, hottest, sunniest spot you have - the flowers stay shut in shade and on cloudy days, so shade defeats the plant.

•

Plant into sharp, gritty, free-draining soil and water sparingly once established; gazania thrives on heat and drought and rots in wet ground.

•

In cold climates treat it as a summer annual - set out fresh plants after the last frost rather than expecting it to overwinter below zone 9.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant after the last frost into full sun and sharp, gritty, well-drained soil - sand, gravel, and coastal ground all suit it. In cold climates set out nursery transplants or seedlings as annual bedding once the soil has warmed; do not rush it into cold, wet ground.

Transplanting

Move or set out young plants in warm weather; it establishes quickly in lean, dry soil and resents heavy, wet ground. Space about 10 inches apart so the low mats knit together.

Early growth

Water lightly to settle the roots, then ease off - gazania thrives on neglect in heat and drought and rots in soil that stays wet. Site it where the flowers get bright, direct sun for most of the day, since they stay shut in shade and under cloud.

Maturity

Reaches roughly 6 to 12 inches tall and spreads 10 to 14 inches into a flowering mat. A true perennial only in zone 9 and up; in colder climates it is grown as a summer annual and replaced each year. Deadheading keeps it tidy and prolongs the display.

Propagation

Grow from seed sown warm in spring for annual bedding, or divide and take basal cuttings of named colours and seed-strains to keep them true. Cuttings and division preserve a chosen flower colour; seed gives a mix.

Plant this, not that

Better fit for this place

For Chicago, IL, these are replacement suggestions: similar plants with a stronger hardiness fit now and/or in 2050.

Stachys byzantina

Lamb's ear

A mat-forming herbaceous perennial in the mint family (Lamiaceae), native to the rocky hills of Turkey, the Caucasus, and Iran. NC State Extension describes it as grown chiefly for its thick, soft, silvery-green leaves that are densely white-woolly and velvety to the touch, 4 to 6 inches long, borne in low basal rosettes about a foot tall and a foot or so wide. In summer it sends up terminal spikes of tiny purplish-pink two-lipped flowers, though the bloom stalks are often sheared off to keep the foliage compact. Deer-resistant and moderately drought-tolerant once established, it wants full sun and very well-drained soil and resents wet leaves and humid, soggy ground.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Dianthus gratianopolitanus

Cheddar Pink

Cheddar pink is a low, mat-forming evergreen perennial pink (a Dianthus, not a true carnation) native to calcareous rock ledges and cliff faces across western and central Europe, from the protected population at Cheddar Gorge in England east to Ukraine. Its intensely clove-scented, fringed rose-pink flowers and blue-grey foliage make it one of the finest front-of-border edging plants in a sunny, sharply drained garden. The honest catch is drainage: in any soil that holds winter moisture the crown rots reliably, so it fails in heavy clay or irrigated beds and thrives only where drainage is sharp and the site stays dry underfoot in cold months.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Viola × wittrockiana

Pansy

The classic cool-season bedding plant, grown for 2-4 inch flattened "face" flowers in nearly every color, usually marked with a contrasting dark blotch and central whiskering. A garden-origin hybrid (not a wild species) treated as a short-lived perennial run as a cool-weather annual or biennial - it blooms hardest in spring and fall and inevitably succumbs to summer heat. The Missouri Botanical Garden lists it as the top-selling winter bedding plant in the deep South.

Perennial

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Lobularia maritima

Sweet alyssum

A low, mat-forming member of the mustard family from the Mediterranean coast, grown almost everywhere as a cool-season annual for its dense mounds of tiny, sweetly fragrant white four-petaled flowers. The flowering is so profuse it often hides the gray-green foliage entirely. It thrives in cool weather, tolerates dry soil and drought, and is a reliable nectar source for small pollinators.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Aubrieta deltoidea

Aubrieta

Aubrieta (Aubrieta deltoidea) is a low, mat-forming evergreen perennial in the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to the rocky hillsides of southeastern Europe - primarily Greece, the Aegean Islands, Crete, and adjacent Mediterranean coasts. It is one of the most reliable spring-flowering ground covers for sunny, well-drained spots: cascading sheets of violet to deep pink four-petalled blooms from March through May, attractive to bees and bee flies. The honest catch is that without a hard cut-back immediately after flowering, plants become woody and bare in the centre within two or three years, collapsing from a tight carpet into a tired, gappy mat.

Felicia amelloides is an evergreen, woody-based perennial subshrub native to a narrow coastal strip of South Africa's Western and Eastern Cape, where it colonises stabilising sand dunes, sandy flats, and rocky outcrops at 0 to 3,280.8 feet. In the garden it delivers a near-continuous flush of sky-blue, yellow-centred daisy flowers on neat mounding growth, typically 12 to 24 inches but capable of reaching about 3.3 feet, making it one of the few true blue-flowered plants for sunny pots and borders. The honest catch is frost-tenderness: it survives only light frost in sharply drained soil and collapses below about 23°F, so outside USDA zones 9-11 it must be overwintered under glass or replaced annually - a real commitment in cool-temperate gardens.

Campanula carpatica is a low, mounding herbaceous perennial native to the rocky subalpine habitats of the Carpathian Mountains, ranging across Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine (Wikipedia). Its wide, upward-facing bell flowers in violet-blue, white, or pink appear from June through August, making it one of the longest-blooming edging perennials available, and it holds an RHS Award of Garden Merit. The honest catch is longevity: it tends to behave as a short-lived perennial, often thinning or declining after a few seasons, so gardeners should plan for regular division or fresh plants from seed to hold the planting.

Dianthus gratianopolitanus

Cheddar Pink

Cheddar pink is a low, mat-forming evergreen perennial pink (a Dianthus, not a true carnation) native to calcareous rock ledges and cliff faces across western and central Europe, from the protected population at Cheddar Gorge in England east to Ukraine. Its intensely clove-scented, fringed rose-pink flowers and blue-grey foliage make it one of the finest front-of-border edging plants in a sunny, sharply drained garden. The honest catch is drainage: in any soil that holds winter moisture the crown rots reliably, so it fails in heavy clay or irrigated beds and thrives only where drainage is sharp and the site stays dry underfoot in cold months.

Common houseleek, or hens-and-chicks (Sempervivum tectorum), is an evergreen alpine succulent that forms tight rosettes of fleshy, pointed leaves, each rosette (the "hen") ringed by smaller offset rosettes (the "chicks") on short runners. Barely a few inches tall, it spreads into a low mat and thrives in the harshest hot, dry, sharply drained spots: gravel, walls, sink gardens, and the tiled roofs it was once planted on. In summer a mature rosette sends up a stout stalk of star-shaped reddish-purple flowers, then that rosette dies, leaving its chicks to carry on. It is one of the toughest, most cold-hardy, most forgiving plants there is, asking only for sun and drainage and resenting nothing so much as wet, rich soil.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

Bergenia cordifolia (often treated by botanists as a synonym within B. crassifolia) is a tough, evergreen perennial native to the Altai Mountains, southern Siberia and Mongolia, grown for its bold, heart-shaped leathery leaves that flush red-bronze through winter and its deep pink flower spikes in early-to-mid spring. It is one of the most tolerant groundcovers in cultivation - enduring deep shade, poor soil, drought, and hard continental cold (commonly rated to USDA Zone 3 in US horticulture; RHS rates it H7, hardy below -4°F). The honest catch is its shallowly creeping rhizomes: in mild, moist climates they can colonise well beyond the intended planting, and the large, persistent leaves trap fallen debris and are notoriously attractive to slugs and vine weevils.

Perennial

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Educator packet

Plant packet

Treasure flower educator packet

A low, mat-forming South African daisy that turns the hottest, driest, leanest corner of a full-sun garden into a sheet of brilliant colour all summer. Large orange, yellow, bronze, pink, or striped flowers - often with a dark central ring - open over narrow dark-green leaves that are white-felted beneath. Superbly drought-, heat-, and salt-tolerant and ideal for coastal and gravelly sites, but its flowers close in shade and on cloudy days, opening only in bright sun. Frost-tender: a perennial only in zone 9 and up, it is almost always grown as an annual bedding plant in cold climates.

Scientific name

Gazania rigens

Plant type

perennial

Hardiness

9a-11

Light

full-sun

Moisture

low

Spacing

10 inches