The bright neon like colours of these daisies make every garden brighter. The ground hugging plants will spread about 4 inches then be covered in masses of flowers that close up slightly in the late afternoon.

• The leaves are narrow fleshy and have a crystaline texture that lead to another common name Ice plant.
• They are easy to grow as half hardy annuals from their very fine seed with a bit of warmth in April
• Self colours are now available in orange and yellow but the multi-coloured mixes are still the most common
• The genera of Mesembryanthemaceae embrace a wide range of succulent plants including Dorotheanus, Phyllobolus, Dactylopsis, Hereroa Psammophora, Lithops and Lapidaria

Grow from the fine gritty seed. Space the seed well. Plant in bold blocks for the best colour impact.

My Orange fleshy daisy

The Livingstone Daisy, Fig Marygolds or Mesembryanthemum crinifolium to give it a posh Latin name, is a bright multi coloured annual that has leaves like a succulent. Sometimes the vibrant colours are just too much of a good thing and I was please to find seeds were available in single Orange and Apricot colours. May be other ranges will soon follow.

These Apricot Shimmer seeds were sown in late March in individual modules and planted out at the end of May. The seed was last years so I was unsure about germination rates but with so many seeds in one packet (2000+) there is no need for concern and each module has several seeds.

Mesembryanthemums can be tiresome to prick out so I donot bother, just nip out weak plants to get one per module. This makes them easy to plant out too. In summers gone-by my wife has spent hours individually separating and planting Mesembryanthemums. Inside a week the plants are a host of flowers and they look very good in a block of one colour.

Now I have to find a colour that will contrast with them as they are quite in-your-face.

Gardeners Tips –

• Your time is more valuable than the price of a packet of seeds.
• You donot need 100% success rate from seeds your garden probably isnot big enough.
• A good big one beats several small ones.