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Products > Erigeron 'WR'
 
Erigeron 'WR' - Wayne Roderick Daisy

Note: This plant is no longer in stock. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.  
Image of Erigeron 'WR'
 
Habit and Cultural Information
Category: Perennial
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflowers)
Origin: California (U.S.A.)
California Native (Plant List): Yes
Evergreen: Yes
Flower Color: Lavender Blue
Bloomtime: Winter/Summer
Synonyms: [Erigeron glaucus 'WR']
Parentage: (E. glaucus x ?)
Height: 1 foot
Width: 1-2 feet
Exposure: Cool Sun/Light Shade
Irrigation (H2O Info): Medium Water Needs
Winter Hardiness: < 0 °F
Erigeron 'WR' (Wayne Roderick Daisy) - Evergreen perennial with large lavender-blue flowers that rise above the 1 foot tall by 2 feet wide foliage clumps in the winter to spring. It is more heat tolerant than other Erigeron glaucus selections and the flowers are held higher above the foliage. Plant in full sun to part shade with occasional to regular irrigation in summer. It is hardy to just below 0 degrees F and tolerant of desert high temperatures. This plant is great for attracting bees & butterflies to the garden and tolerates heavy clay soil, seaside conditions and is fairly resistant to deer predation. When plants get lanky, cut back to 1 to 2 inches of stem in late fall. The initials "W.R." stand for Wayne Roderick, the legendary bay area plantsman, who passed away in 2003. Wayne reportedly found this spontaneous garden seedling hybrid of Erigeron glaucus and based on its habit and looks determined that it had crossed with another species of Erigeron. This plant was introduced using this name given to it by Nevin Smith, though we note that some have listed this plant incorrectly as Erigeron 'Wayne Roderick' or Erigeron glaucus 'Wayne Roderick'. To make it even more confusing, there is a validly named cultivar of Erigeron glaucus called Erigeron glaucus 'Wayne Roderick', with extremely dark violet flowers, that Wayne also selected. While this plant has great colored flowers it is not as tidy as some other Erigeron glaucus varieties. We are sure that if Wayne was still with us, he would find this all of this confusion quite amusing. We got our first stock of Erigeron 'WR' from Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in 1992 and have grown it continuously since this time. This is probably the most heat tolerant of the Seaside Daisies. As noted in Carol Bornstein, Dave Fross and Bart O'Brien's California Native Plants for the Garden "Seaside daisy performs best in coastal gardens and works well in mixed borders, meadows, or containers. In richer soils it looks better and blooms more profusely than it will in sandy or rocky soils. In inland gardens, plants in full sun flower spectacularly throughout spring but often burn to a crisp during summer … individual seaside daisy plants have a useful garden life span of two to seven years." 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. 

Information displayed on this page about Erigeron 'WR' is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will 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.

 
San Marcos Growers closed for regular business at the end of 2025 as the property is being developed for affordable housing.
While our gates remain closed, we will open them by appointment so we can liquidate remaining plants, supplies and equipment. The plants remaining in the field are listed on our Live Inventory Page.
 
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