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| 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 |
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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.
This information about Erigeron 'WR' 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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