New Zealand Everlasting Daisy

Botanical name: Anaphalioides bellidioides

Synonyms: Helichrysum bellidioides, Xeranthemum bellidioides, Helichrysum prostratum

Common name(s): New Zealand Everlasting Daisy, Everlasting Daisy

Plant facts:
A charming low-growing New Zealand native alpine daisy valued for its trailing habit, silvery foliage undersides and long-lasting papery white flowers. This hardy evergreen perennial forms spreading mats across open alpine and subalpine landscapes and is especially attractive in rock gardens, gravel plantings and alpine troughs.

Natural habitat:
Occurs naturally in open alpine and subalpine habitats including tussock grasslands, rocky outcrops, river gravels, scrub, ultramafic soils, roadside banks and disturbed mountain environments.

Growing environment:
Sun, Wind, Frost, Alpine & Free draining tolerant.
Prefers cool open conditions with excellent drainage and low competition from surrounding vegetation.

Endemic distribution:
Endemic to New Zealand.
Found from the central and southern North Island throughout the South Island and on Stewart Island/Rakiura, Chatham Islands, Auckland Islands, Campbell Island and the Antipodes Islands.

Height:
Approximately 5–15 cm tall

Width:
Trailing stems spreading up to 50 cm wide

Growth habit:
A low prostrate evergreen perennial forming creeping mats with trailing rooting stems.

Leaves:
Small rounded to broad oval leaves arranged densely along the stems. Upper surfaces are green to grey-green and usually hairless when mature, while undersides are covered in soft white tomentum.

Flowers:
Solitary daisy-like flower heads borne on reddish-brown stalks above the foliage. Flowers have bright yellow centres surrounded by papery white bracts.

Flower colours:
White, Yellow

Flowering:
October–December

Fruiting:
Summer to autumn

Fruit:
Produces fluffy wind-dispersed cypselae crowned with fine pappus hairs.

Ecology:
An important species of open alpine and subalpine ecosystems where it colonises exposed gravels, rocky sites and low-competition habitats. Provides nectar and pollen resources for native insects including moths, flies and beetles.

Uses:

• Alpine gardens
• Rock gardens
• Gravel and scree planting
• Groundcover planting
• Container and trough gardens
• Coastal alpine landscaping
• Native restoration in open habitats

Appearance:

Growth habit:
Forms attractive creeping mats with slender trailing stems rooting along the ground.

Leaves:
Leaves are thick, rounded and closely spaced, green above with soft silvery-white undersides creating a subtle bicoloured effect.

Flowers:
Flowers are held singly on upright woolly stems and resemble miniature everlasting daisies with papery white outer bracts.

Texture:
Soft, woolly and finely textured with a neat compact alpine appearance.

How to grow:
Best grown in full sun with sharply drained gritty or rocky soil. Particularly suited to alpine gardens, raised beds and containers where drainage remains excellent year-round. Tolerates frost, wind and poor soils but dislikes prolonged humidity and waterlogging. Once established it is hardy and low maintenance. Easily propagated from fresh seed or by division and rooting sections of trailing stems.

Similar species:
Can resemble other New Zealand alpine everlasting daisies including species of Helichrysum and Ewartia, but distinguished by its creeping habit, larger papery flower heads and softly tomentose leaf undersides.

Garden value:
An exceptionally hardy and attractive alpine groundcover offering year-round texture and masses of bright everlasting flowers. Particularly effective spilling over rocks, retaining walls and alpine troughs where its silver foliage and white flowers contrast beautifully against gravel and stone.