| Please help me identify (and cultivate) this plant: It looks most like a purple coneflower, but it has more 'rays'. The disk is raised and has about 5-6 bright yellow disk florets. The color of the petals is fucia. It stands about 18"-24". The leaves are like a coneflower, but rounded and dull. The ray-petals form a cup around the disk. Is it an anual, perrenial? How can I keep it through a Michigan winter? |
| To be honest I am not positive which plant you are describing, but it could be a Gerbera or Transvaal Daisy. This is a perennial in warmer areas and might survive in about zone 6 in a favorable microclimate with winter protection. In colder areas, some gardeners dig them up and put them in pots where they may continue to bloom in a sunny window indoors for the winter. Other gardeners simply consider them to be a great annual for blooms from midsummer on. |
