How to Grow and Care for Painted Daisies | Gardener’s Path

On the surface, Tanacetum coccineum is an absolutely gorgeous perennial.

With its extremely striking hues, this daisy truly does look painted, as if Georgia O’Keeffe herself took some red, pink, and/or purple pastels directly to the petals.

But contained within the flowers are pyrethrins: a group of naturally-occurring compounds which, when consumed, wreak havoc on a bug’s nervous system.

As a result, bugs tend to steer clear of these bad boys, making the painted daisy a fine choice for organic pest management.

Growing and caring for these flowers is pretty simple, but a primer will definitely give you a leg up on T. coccineum cultivation. Hence, this guide.

Here’s what you’ll be getting into:

What Are Painted Daisies?

Hardy in USDA Zones 3 through 7 and native to southwestern Asia, painted daisies are a spectacular species of herbaceous perennial flower, belonging to the Asteraceae family alongside cosmos, dahlias, and marigolds.

The painted daisy goes by other common names, such as the pyrethrum, pyrethrum daisy, and Persian insect flower.

In binomial nomenclature, former names include Chrysanthemum coccineum, C. roseum, and Pyrethrum roseum.

Tanacetum coccineum has a fun meaning. From the Greek athanasia – meaning “immortality” – comes the genus name, which references the everlasting nature of Asteraceae blooms.

The species name coccineum means “scarlet” or “crimson,” a nod to the sometimes red petals.

Since many plants bear the name “daisy,” it’s important to distinguish T. coccineum from the rest.

With an upright, bushy, and clumping habit, these plants reach two to three feet tall and one to one and a half feet wide at maturity. Flaunting a pleasantly earthy aroma, T. coccineum produces showy, three-inch-wide flowers from June to July atop thin, wiry stems.

Unsurprisingly, these blooms have that pluckable daisy-like aesthetic, with long and slender ray petals – perfect for discerning whether that special someone loves you or not.

The typically single, occasionally double flowers have yellow centers and pretty petals that come in white, red, pink, or purple hues.

Soft, fern-like leaves are produced in an alternate arrangement below the blooms, increasing in size and petiole length as you move down the stem.

Thankfully, T. coccineum doesn’t grow invasively or aggressively… although the same can’t be said for its close relative T. vulgare.

Fun fact: T. coccineum contains pyrethrins in its flowers, which are organic compounds with bug-killing properties.

With a high toxicity to insects and a low toxicity to birds and mammals, these pyrethrins over-excite a bug’s nervous system when ingested, which quickly leads to the insect’s paralysis and death.

If you’re allergic to members of the Asteraceae family – you probably are if you have a ragweed allergy – then contact with the sap or leaves of a painted daisy could cause a bit of skin irritation.

It never hurts to break out your handy gardening gloves!

Cultivation and History

The cultivation of pyrethrum daisy for its insecticidal properties spans centuries, with records of its usage going all the way back to ancient China’s Chou dynasty in the first century CE.

The Dalmatian pyrethrum, aka T. cinerariifolium, is cultivated for its pyrethrins more commonly in commercial production than T. coccineum.

A solvent is used to extract these from the dead flower heads.

While both species contain significant amounts of pyrethrins, T. cinerariifolium has far higher concentrations, making it more effective in yielding insecticide.

In the case of painted daisies, the insecticide derived from this species has a long history of use in the Caucasus Mountain region, and the daisy was once commonly known as “Caucasian insect-powder plant.”

The locals knew the power of their insect powder, and sold it to outsiders at high prices while keeping its true botanical origins a secret… until the early 1800s, at least.

At that time, an Armenian merchant known as Mr. Jumtikoff learned where the insect powder came from and how it was made. In 1828, his son began large-scale production.

By the mid-1800s, Caucasian insect powder had reached central Europe, with another merchant taking credit for the majority of its success in the market: the German-born Johann Zacherl.

He sourced the flower from rural Caucasian communities, ground it up in what’s now the modern-day nation of Georgia, then procured the processed powder in the Austrian city of Vienna, selling it as “Zacherl’s Insect Killing Tincture,” or “Zacherlin.”

By 1880, Zacherl’s son had taken over the firm, and replaced painted daisies with the more pyrethrin-dense T. cinerariifolium.

Its higher concentration of insect-killing compounds makes the Dalmatian pyrethrum the more lucrative choice for pesticide production.

In the modern-day, pyrethrum is commonly used as an organic pest management tool among both commercial farmers and amateur gardeners.

And after studying its modes of action, scientists have actually been able to synthesize pyrethroids, a manmade counterpart to au naturel pyrethrins.

All of this we owe, in part, to the humble painted daisy.

Propagation

Want some painted daisies of your very own? Then you’ll have to grow them from seed, procure divisions, or acquire T. coccineum transplants.

From Seed

Seeds can be sown directly outdoors after your area’s last frost date. Alternatively, you can actually sow them indoors four to six weeks before the final frost, if you’d like a head start.

For indoor sowing, fill a cell tray with a 50:50 mix of sphagnum peat moss and perlite.

Sow one seed per cell, and gently cover each with about an eighth of an inch of media. Moisten the soil, set the tray near a sunny window, and maintain ambient temperatures of 60 to 70°F.

Maintain moist media all the while, and germination should occur in about two to four weeks.

After the final frost date passes two to four weeks later, harden off the seedlings outdoors by leaving the tray outside for 30 to 60 minutes before bringing it back indoors.

Add an additional half to full hour of exposure each following day until your seedlings can survive a full day outside.

At this point, you can transplant the seedlings directly into the ground or into their own three-inch pots, keeping the media moist until they become established.

If you wanted to sow directly outdoors from the get-go, then plant groups of four seeds into well-draining garden soil after the final frost date in spring.

Space these seed groups about 18 to 24 inches apart, cover them with an eighth of an inch of soil, and moisten in the soil. Keep it moist as the seedlings grow and develop.

For freshly-sown, in-ground groups of four seeds, germination should occur in two to four weeks.

As they emerge from the ground, thin out the seedlings until you’re eventually left with the strongest one in each group.

Keep the media moist around the winning seedlings until they become established.

Via Division

After the final frost date in spring, carefully dig up a mature T. coccineum.

Working over a tarp or spread-out newspaper, use your hands or a sharp blade to carefully divide the specimen into two or four daughter plants, with foliage and roots intact.

You can now transplant them into new spots in the garden!

Via Transplanting

Whether it’s with a divided daughter plant, a hardened-off seeding, or a purchased specimen, transplanting a painted daisy is pretty easy.

Prepare well-draining planting sites with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0. Space these sites 18 to 24 inches apart, and ensure that they get full sun or partial shade.

Come transplanting time in post-frost spring, dig holes about as deep and a bit wider than the transplants’ root systems.

Set the transplants in the holes, backfill, and water them in. Keep the transplant sites moist until established.

How to Grow

Now that your painted daisies are growing in their new homes, it’s time to keep them happy with proper cultivation!

Climate and Exposure Needs

To survive the extremes of winter and summer, these plants should be grown in USDA Hardiness Zones 3 to 7.

Full sun is best for flowering, but specimens in more southern climates could do with a bit of afternoon shade.

In windy climates, staking T. coccineum may come in handy to keep the slender stems from flopping over.

Soil Needs

As long there’s decent drainage, a painted daisy isn’t too particular about its soil. When it comes to qualities such as texture and fertility, shoot for “moderate” or “average” over any extremes.

Same thing goes for pH – a slightly acidic to neutral range of 6.0 to 7.0 works well.

After the first bloom, promptly deadhead spent flowers to encourage a second flush of blooming.

Adding a couple inches of mulch to the root zone around your plants is also a smart move – it’ll conserve soil moisture, insulate the roots, and protect said roots from physical damage.

Cultivars to Select

The cool thing about cultivars is that they offer multiple different aesthetics within a single species. Here’s a few (with fun people’s names!) that I’m sure you’ll love:

Managing Pests and Disease

In spite of its dainty beauty, a painted daisy is tough. But there are a few potential threats that could cause some problems, especially in the plant’s youth. Let’s touch on them a bit.

Herbivores

Not too much to worry about in the plant-munching mammals department. As a matter of fact, T. coccineum is resistant to deer!

Insects

Because T. coccineum flowers have insecticidal properties, mature plants aren’t typically bothered by insects, and can actually be added to the landscape to keep bugs away from nearby plantings.

Young plants, however, might be pestered a bit by aphids, chrysanthemum nematodes, or leaf miners.

Aphids

Feeding on the sap within plant tissues, these soft-bodied insects can leave afflicted plants with stunted growth, wilting, and structural damage associated with feeding.

Often spread via infested yet asymptomatic specimens, chrysanthemum nematodes cause yellow, brown, and/or black patches on leaves.

Since the nematodes can’t move through leaf veins, these patches will often have clearly-defined borders.

Subsequent symptoms include leaf distortion, desiccation, browning, and drooping. Fed-upon buds may produce deformed leaves or fail to flower.

To prevent chrysanthemum nematode infestation, only introduce healthy specimens into your garden and keep adjacent areas clear of leaf detritus, as nematodes can survive for up to three years in dead foliage.

Mulch to restrict nematode movement up and out of the soil. If infestation occurs, remove and destroy infested specimens.

Leaf Miners

Living and feeding within leaves as they mature, “leaf miners” are a group of pests that may include an assortment of beetles, wasps, and sawflies in the larval stage.

As a result of their munching, leaf miners leave ugly, whitish feeding trails in their wake, which can merge into larger, even uglier blotches. In addition to reducing aesthetics, this damage also impacts photosynthesis – no bueno.

Root Rot

If excess water and/or inadequate soil drainage deprives a plant’s roots of oxygen, the roots will begin to turn necrotic. As you can imagine, that doesn’t leave the aboveground shoots too well off.

Without a support system of healthy roots, shoots will begin to exhibit symptoms such as stunted growth, chlorosis, or necrosis. Yup, that last one is death.

Prevention is key here – don’t overwater, and be sure to provide ample soil drainage.

If root rot ever occurs, you can wait to see if the specimen recovers with proper irrigation and drainage. You might opt to lift the plant and remove any rotted roots before replanting.

If the majority of the roots are rotted, the plant’s odds of survival are slim. If its end is nigh, pitch the plant and take this as a lesson learned for next time.

Best Uses

Whether grown in a cottage garden, a mass or grouping, as a border, or even in a butterfly garden, painted daisy makes a powerfully colorful statement, exclaiming “I look absolutely fine.” And truly, it does.

Cut T. coccineum flowers look stunning in arrangements – their tall and slender forms make them the perfect fit for tall and slender vases.

For some easy pest management that couldn’t be more organic, try planting these guys wherever you don’t want bugs to hang out.