This plant looks its best in a cool spot with sun to light shade. It can be invasive with moderate water, but it will take poor soil and drought and performs best if cut down periodically. Cold hardy to about 15 to 20 degrees F. Flowers are a great treat for bees and tiny beneficial flies and wasps. It prefers a coastal climate and the interior heat of summer does make it shut down. But, as soon as the weather is a cool again in fall, it perks right up and blooms until hard frost. A useful and attractive plant for cracks in wall or spilling over large pots or cascading over walls.

Erigeron karvinskianus is native to much of Mexico, Central America, Colombia and Venezuela. The name for the genus comes from the Greek words 'eri' meaning early or perhaps 'erio' meaning wooly and 'geron' meaning "old man" which alludes to the bristly or wooly seed heads. This species was first described in 1836 in Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilisby the Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle with its specific epithet honoring the Bavarian naturalist Wilhelm Friedrich Karwinski von Karwin, who de Candolle noted first collected the plant in Mexico. Interestingly de Candolle also described a second daisy at the same time, calling it Erigeron mucronatus, but this plant was later determined to be the same species and Erigeron karvinskianus chosen as its correct name.

Though also commonly called Mexican Fleabane, this plant has long been referred worldwide to as Santa Barbara Daisy since it thrived in our area and become established and even naturalized in Santa Barbara gardens after an introduction in the late 19th century. When the Italian botanist Dr. Francesco Francceschi (AKA Emanuele Oratio Fenzi) arrived in Santa Barbara in 1895, he documented all plants already growing in the area. Of this plant, then calling it Vittadenia trilobata, he stated "The charming Vittadenia trilobata, looking like a Lilliput daisy, has been introduced only of late years and is not seen in many gardens. By 1931 it had become so common in area gardens that in an article by Marian Q. Toy titled "Indispensable Perennials for Rock Gardens" in the December 1931 issue of The Santa Barbara Gardener she wrote Because it is not rare, do not pass by Erigeron mucronatus, the foliage is attractive and the white flowers are in evidence over a very long period". We grew and sold this plant at our nursery from 1984 until closing in 2025. We also grew the similar Erigeron x moerheimii with larger pinker flowers. 

The information displayed on this page about Erigeron karvinskianus 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.