Gazania X Hybrida is a very showy perennial plant of complex hybrid origin, often grown as an annual. Its height is only 20-40 cm (7.9-15.7 in). The leaves are basal, rosette-shaped, dark green or grayish-green, very variable in shape, woolly below. Inflorescences-baskets with a diameter of 7-10 cm (2.7-3.9 in), simple, double, semi-double. Reed (marginal) flowers are white, cream, yellow, orange, pink, crimson, red, red-brown, bronze, purple, with spots of brown, black and white at the base; tubular-purplish-black. Varieties of hybrid gatsania have a longer flowering period than just species of this genus. Gatsania is grown in a mixture of flowers and monochrome varieties.
Gazania x hybrida is cold-resistant: it can withstand temperature differences from -5 to-7°C (23-19.4°F), light-loving and super-drought-resistant. However, in hot, dry summers, the lack of watering reduces the intensity of its flowering. It is not demanding on soils, but it develops better and blooms on loose, fertile ones. It is resistant to diseases and pests.
It is propagated by its seeds, which appear on seedlings in late March-early April. Shoots appear after 5-7 days, then after 7-10 days they are removed from the terminal part of the taproot of the young seedling to stimulate the branching of the root system. Then fertilizing is carried out with a full mineral fertilizer. In a permanent place, the hardened seedlings are planted at the end of May.
Gazania is good in mixed borders (flowerbeds) in the foreground, low borders, flowerbeds, perennial borders; effective in rockeries among stones.
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