The full beauty of gazania is apparent on sunny days when the
vibrantly coloured flowers open to greet the warmth and light. A
perennial in its native South Africa, gazania seldom survives a
British winter, needing to be planted anew each spring. It makes
up for this by being extremely easy to grow. The gazania, which
is also called treasure flower, is named after a Greek-Italian
humanist named Theodoros Gazos, who lived during the 15th
century. This composite flower originates in South Africa, and
can be found there in some 25 varieties. Most varieties have
glowing gold flowers. The flower can reach a diameter of 10cm.
Like all plants of the Compositae family, the flower is made up
of many small florets. Gazanias are often sold in mixtures of
different colours. Choose plants with particularly attractive
colours and take cuttings from them in September. Overwinter the
cuttings in a light, frost-free place. Each gazania flower has a
yellow or orange centre disc, typical of daisies. The ray
florets sit around t