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Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' (Pink African Daisy) - An evergreen perennial with a compact habit to 10 to 14 inches tall with velvety silver-gray foliage and pink flowers that have an orange-yellow eye and appear nearly continuously from April through November.
Plant in full to part sun and irrigate occasionally to infrequently. Hardy to 20-25 degrees F (Zone 9). A great new color selection for perennial beds, accent planting, as a groundcover or in containers. Flowers are attractive to butterflies and the fuzzy gray foliage seems resistant to deer predation. Trim spent flowers (deadhead) to encourage prolonged rebloom.
We received this plant from Florexpo-Gloeckner as part of Amerinova's Ravers series and, like the Sun Spot series, this plant is from the breeding program of Graham Noel Brown of Nuflora International in New South Wales, Australia. This series was bred for compact habit, strong blooming and attractive silver foliage. This is likely a Venidio-Arctotis hybrids or Arctotis Harlequin Hybrids (syn. Arctotis hybrida, X Venidioarctotis) which involved crossing and back crossing several species including Arctotis venusta grandis and Venidium [now Acrtotis] fastuosa. We have grown this plant since 2013.
The genus name Arctotis is derived from Greek words 'arktos', which means "a bear" and 'otos' meaning "an ear" with the implication that the scales of the flower and fruit pappus look like the ears of a bear. The reason for the specific epithet is not clear with the possibility that it come from the Greek word 'stoechas' that refers to a type of mint coupled with 'folia' meaning leaf.
The information displayed on this page about Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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