Ferula

These annual or tender evergreen perennials are natives of South Africa. They belong to the Daisy family, Compositae. The perennial kinds have small ovate leaves and they grow about 2-3 feet high. They bear blue or violet flowers. F. amelloides (the Blue Marguerite), is a bushy perennial that grows 1 to 2 feet high and has sky blue flowers. F. Bergeriana (the Kingfisher Daisy) is usually treated as an annual. It grows 6 inches high and has blue flowers. F. tennella is an annual that bears violet colored flowers.

Pot Cultivation

They may be planted outdoors or in a greenhouse. The compost that you should use is made up of loam, leaf mold and sand. The annual kinds may be sown in the greenhouse in September to provide beautiful plants that will bloom in 4 or 5 inch pots in late winter and spring. The perennial kinds are great for growing in sunny windows.

Propagation

Seeds of the annual kinds are sown in pots of light soil in a greenhouse in March, or directly outside as soon as the soil is dry enough to work with. The seedlings are then pricked out and placed 2 inches apart in flats filled with the compost mentioned above in potting. They are gradually hardened off and planted in flowerbeds in May where they'll flower in the summer. The perennial kinds may be raised from seeds in a similar way and potted in 3-inch pots and eventually, in the 5-inch pots in which they will bloom. Cuttings of young shoots may be inserted in sand in a propagating case in the greenhouse in spring.

VARIETIES

• F. tenella;
• F. Bergeriana (the Kingfisher Daisy);
• F. amelloides (the Blue Marguerite);
• F. echinata.