I will be interested to seeing some feed back also - I have given up on Alaska - while it starts out in a nice clump once it starts blooming it sprawls all over for me and is done blooming by July 1st. I am liking Silver Princess - WS'd that last year and the clumps are staying nice and compact and upright and seem to have a much longer blooming season.......

Lynne

The Crazy Daisy! I enjoy it so much. It forms a nice size clump in a steady way and the blooms are great. Actually, I divided the two clumps I have last fall since the blooms don't last very long on the plant. Oh, don't get me wrong. It's not that they peter out quickly, it's just that we like them so much for bouquets in the house and for friends! :O)

I just bought another one which looks similar but has pale yellow blooms. Can't remember the name and the rain is just coming down right now...

I WS Shasta Daisy (Alaska) last year and had very good success with it after having tried and failed using the 'under the lights' method several times. I planted about six plants in a nice clump and they are now beginning to bloom but they are not in sync. BUT I read on a post on this forum last year that to form a nice flowering clump you should pinch them. By the time I remembered to do that they already had buds and I was afraid to do it for fear of losing all my blooms, so maybe that's the way to have a nice flowering clump. I do not think I will have the 'show' I expected.

Well, I just found a list (link below). Hope this helps us all!

Common Name:
Leucanthemum x superbum Aglaia
A clump forming perennial producing fringed semi-double, white daisy-like flowers all summer long. Height 50cm. Will grow in most soils in sun or partial shade. Good for cut flowers. AGM
Common Name: Shasta Daisy

Leucanthemum x superbum Alaska
A clump forming perennial producing white daisy-like flowers with a yellow centre all summer long. Height 90cm. Grows in most soils in sun or partial shade. Good for cut flowers.
Common Name: Shasta Daisy

Leucanthemum x superbum Barbara Bush
A clump forming perennial with green leaves edged cream, and semi-double, white daisy-like flowers from June to September. Height 50cm. Grows in most soils in sun or partial shade.
Common Name: Shasta Daisy

Leucanthemum x superbum Becky
A clump forming perennial producing white, daisy-like flowers with a yellow centre all summer long. Height 70cm. Grows in most soils in sun or partial shade. Good for cut flowers.
Common Name: Shasta Daisy

Leucanthemum x superbum Goldrush
A clump forming perennial which produces all summer, daisy-like, double, yellow flowers, which fade to creamy-yellow as they age. Height 60cm. Grows in most soils in sun or partial shade. Good for cut flowers.
Common Name: Shasta Daisy, Leucanthemum x suerbum Goldraush

Leucanthemum x superbum Phyllis Smith
A clump forming perennial producing fringed semi-double, white daisy-like flowers all summer long. Height 90cm. Grows in most soils in sun or partial shade. Good for cut flowers.
Common Name: Shasta Daisy

Leucanthemum x superbum Polaris
A clump forming perennial producing large, white, daisy-like flowers with a yellow centre, all summer long. Height 90cm. Grows in most soils in sun or partial shade. Good for cut flowers.
Common Name: Shasta Daisy

Leucanthemum x superbum Schneehurken
A clump forming perennial producing semi-double, white, daisy-like flowers with frilly petals all summer long. Height 40cm. Grows in most soils in sun or partial shade.
Common Name: Shasta Daisy

Leucanthemum x superbum Silberprinzesschen
A clump forming perennial producing white daisy like flowers with a yellow centre all summer long. Height 30cm. Grows in most soils in sun or partial shade.
Common Name: Shasta Daisy, Leucanthemum x superbum Silver Princess

Leucanthemum x superbum Sonnenschein
A clump forming perennial producing large creamy-yellow daisy like flowers with a yellow centre in summer. Height 75cm. Grows in most soils in sun or partial shade. Good for cut flowers.
Common Name: Shasta Daisy, Leucanthemum x superbum Sunshine

Leucanthemum x superbum Wirral Supreme
A clump forming perennial producing double white daisy like flowers all summer long. Height 90cm. Grows in most soils in sun or partial shade. Good for cut flowers. AGM
Common Name: Shasta Daisy, Chrysanthemum maximum Wirral Supreme

Here is a link that might be useful: The Potted Garden's List of

FYI- I found a few selections over at Swallowtail Garden Seeds, for those who are interested.

All true Shasta (L.x superbum) are clumpers. If you start a plant from a single seed, it will gradually widen it's crown to several and dozens of stems. Some varieties expand faster than others.

The pinching definately works, although this year my 'Alaska' defied me, and although I pinched them (with buds on them), they still shot up, bloomed furiously, and the stems on the outside of each clump flopped in the 2" rain we got the other night. I think it's funny that the flopped over stems, with blooms, will turn upwards and continue to grow in height/length. I just cut them for the vase, and they arrange nicely because of the bend in the stem.

'Crasy Daisy' responded to the pinching exactly as it was supposed to. It only added a little height, and stayed upright in the rain.

'Silver Princess' and 'Snow Lady' are dwarves, and never flop for me, so I don't pinch them.

I just bought some 'Becky' this year, and they're about to bloom. The supposedly don't need pinching or support, due to thicker stronger stems.

I didn't ask the original question but thanks for all the input. I have heard good things about Becky from other forums so may start that next year. I will keep Alaska but relagate it to the one perennial bed that I generally let everyone fend for them selves. I want nice fairly controlled plants in the fenced in cottage garden so will stay with Silver Princess and maybe Becky.....

Lynne

My becky is fab and does not need support. It's a nice fat clump even in this crummy weather we have been having.

I just bought some 'Alaska' plants this year; didn't pinch them, they're about a foot tall and they are blooming. But they're flopping all over the place, and behaving as Donn describes - the stems are bending upwards and continuing to bloom. Looks odd. If they make it through the winter, I'll remember to pinch them next year.

Have some 'Crazy Daisy' and 'Snow Lady' seeds that I'll try this year - would like to get hold of some 'Goldrush' for a different color.

Tina, I have some 'Becky' seed if you want to get a head start on next year. The resultant plant cannot be called 'Becky', and I'm not even sure what this seed will do, but if you want it, it's yours. I have enough for 2 people, so if anybody else wants to summer sow instead of wintersow, I'll send it on. LMK.

'Becky' is a wonderful daisy -- large. Mine got 42 inches across AT LEAST and the bunnies made a home at the base of it. The flattened it out somehow so that the stems on the edges all fell over, so I pulled about half of it out. (I would have offered it for trade or SASE, but it seemed to have very, very small roots for the size of the divisions. Almost non existant roots.)

A year later and the bunnies still live there. sigh. I hate to be so mean, but they never stop EATING!

Lime

My Alaska is a very nice clump, but it's huge. It might be that it is only two years old, or something with my soil but it doesn't flop at all.