silver arctotis

Arctotis stoechadifolia

Scientific name

A tough and fast-growing groundcover often seen in gardens around the world, Arctotis stoechadifolia surprisingly only occurs naturally along a small strip from the Cape Peninsula to the West Coast.

Plants are pollinated by bees that frequently visit the flowers during the day.

Arctotis species and hybrids are very popular garden plants across the world as they are easy to grow and very floriferous, with large flowers in a range of colours.

Propagation instructions

By seed

Seeds should be sown in seed trays during autumn and planted into small pots to be grown on as soon as they are a size that are easy to handle.

By cutting

Most of the Arctotis plants at Kirstenbosch are grown by cuttings made throughout the year. Tip cuttings taken from a healthy growing stem root easily and are placed in a tray filled with well-drained sand. The rooted cuttings are grown on in bags before planted into the garden, but could be planted directly into the garden beds especially during the cooler winter months.

References and further reading

PlantZAfrica profile »

Wikipedia page »