Tahoka Daisy
Machaeranthera tanacetifolia
Tahoka daisy is an annual, unusual among the asters, and it behaves like one: fast from seed, flowering in its first summer, and gone by the following spring unless it has reseeded. The flowers are inch-wide purple daisies with a gold center over foliage cut as finely as tansy, which is what the species name records. It scatters across bare sand and disturbed ground on the southern plains and reseeds into loose drifts rather than persisting as individual plants, so a stand shifts around a site year to year. Bloom runs from late spring until frost, longer than almost any perennial aster, and small bees and butterflies work it constantly. Sow it in fall and let the seed take the winter cold it needs; spring sowing gives patchy results. It wants poor, sharply drained ground and will not compete in a dense planting.
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Type
- wildflower
- Lifespan
- annual
- Height
- 2–2 ft
- Spacing
- 0.5–1 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade
- Soil moisture
- dry
- Soil pH
- neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- May, June, July, August, September, October
- Bloom colors
- purple
- Wildlife value
- pollinators
- Landscape uses
- border, container
- Native states
- AZ, CA, CO, KS, MT, NE, NM, NV, OK, SD, TX, UT, WY