Old reliables: more than a dozen Shasta daisies

Sunset, May, 1989

Almost a California native, Shasta daisy was bred here by Luther Burbank, and has since become a mainstay of the summer perennial garden (spring in the desert). You're likely to find more than a dozen kinds in nurseries during the coming two or three months. Though these aren't drought tolerant, the best of them offer the advantage of a tong season of bloom, so water you use goes a long way. Following is a list of long-blooming 'Shastas'; remember that to get an extended season, you should plant in soil that has plenty of organic matter in it and a mulch on top of it.

Dwarf whites. Ironically, the most widely available Shasta daisy probably isn't a true Shasta: it's 'Snow Lady', a cross between C maximum and the common roadside daisy C leucanthemum. This one tops out at just under a foot and produces single, 2 1/2-inch flowers from May through the first frost. It was a 1988 All-America Selection.

'Silver Princess' (also sold as 'Little Princess' and 'Little Miss Muffet') grows a tad taller, and is covered by slightly smaller flowers from June through August.

Single-flowered, full-size whites. These are what Luther Burbank started with, and they are still among the most popular.

Two of the best are 'Alaska', an old variety with 4 1/2-inch blooms that appear most heavily in July and August on a 2 1/2- to 3foot plant, and 'Starburst Hybrid'.

Just introduced three years ago, 'Starburst Hybrid' is a reat giant, with 5 1/2-inch flowers on a 3 1/2-foot plant. Bloom starts in May, and continues all summer if you keep dead flowers picked.

Double-flowered varieties. 'Aglaya' ('Lace Shasta') produces an abundance of fringed, double white flowers on 21/2- to 3foot plants. A tong bloomer, it's hard to find in nurseries.

'Esther Read' isn't as easy to find as it once was, but for many gardeners it's the first double Shasta that springs to mind. The plant grows to be 2 feet tall; when the first flush of bloom slacks off in summer, cut it almost to the ground and it will rebloom in autumn.

Yellow flowers. 'Cobham's Gold' looks like a yellowish-centered version of 'Esther Read', but it's a little shorter and blooms summer through fall.

Give all Shastas rich soil and full sun. The exception: double-flowered varieties, which don't do as well under hot western sun. Divide every second or third autumn, after plants are well established.