Japanese name: エゾギク（蝦夷菊） Scientific name:Callistephus chinensis
[Overview]
An annual about 20–100 cm tall.
The stem is erect and branched.
The leaves are alternate and ovate, with irregularly cut margins.
The leaves on the upper part of the stem are spatulate.
A flower head 3–5 cm across is borne at the stem tip.
The flowers vary widely in form and color.
The involucral bracts are in many rows, and the outer ones are leaf-like.
The fruit is an achene.
[History]
It reached Europe around 1730 and Japan in the middle of the Edo period.
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed.
The optimum germination temperature is 15–20°C.
It prefers fertile soil in a sunny, well-drained site.
In poor sunlight it becomes leggy and flowers poorly.
Take care not to let it become too wet; for potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries, and for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient.
Apply a base fertilizer, and also apply quick-acting chemical fertilizer around the base of the plant once a month.
Remove dead flowers and lower leaves promptly.
It suffers from continuous cropping injury, so do not plant again in a place where it has once been planted for the next 5–10 years.
Pests and diseases include wilt, damping-off, leaf spot, rust, melon flies, shoot borers, leaf miners, aphids, armyworms and nematodes.
