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Asteriscus sericeus (Canary Island Daisy) - This silver-foliaged shrub grows to 30 inches tall by slightly wider. In its youth it forms a dense mound but with age has a more open structure showing its dark gray stems holding the 1 to 2 inch long thick and broadly lanceolate leaves that are soft and light greenish-silver in color with silky fuzzy hairs and held at the branch ends. The yellow flowers are up to 3 inches across and appear in later winter to early summer with a scattered bloom later in mild coastal climates.
Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil or on a mound and only water sparingly. This attractive plant is not terribly long lived but one can expect up to 5 years of it looking very nice, followed by a more open but still interesting look and it will often renew itself by self-seeding. It has proven hardy to short duration temperatures to 20-25 degrees F. This is a great plant for the dry garden for use as an isolated specimen or grouped alongside other dry growing shrubs and succulents. Leave a few older plants and cultivate or move around emerging seedlings to prolong this plants existence in the garden.
Asteriscus sericeus is endemic to the island of Fuerteventura, the second largest of the Canary Islands, with Tenerife being the largest. It grows in the mountainous northern part of the island on rocks from the coast up to an elevation of 2,300 feet. It has long been cultivation as an ornamental plant on several of the other islands in the chain, including Gran Canaria, Tenerife and El Hierro and has been successful as it is not browsed by livestock. The name for the genus comes is derived from the Greek word 'asteriskos' meaning "small star" in reference to the smaller star shaped flowers and the epithet comes from Latin word 'sericum' meaning "silk" in reference to the soft silky hairs covering the leaves. In the Canary Islands it is known under its colloqial names jorja or tojía. This plant has also been known as Odontospermum sericeus and Nauplius sericeus but is currently listed as Asteriscus sericeus in the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew database. We first received seed of this plant in 1987 from Daryll Combs of Daryll's Exotic Plants in Carpinteria, CA (now in Dallas, Oregon) who had it growing in his dry garden in front of the nursery and we have grown it off and on at the nursery since 1990. We have also long grown the more common lower growing plant Asteriscus maritimus.
This information about Asteriscus sericeus displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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