Xerochrysum bracteatum ‘Dargan Hill Monarch’
An Australian Native Perennial Paper Daisy
This week’s native plant of the week, Dargan Hill Monarch, is perhaps my all time favourite paper daisy for creating an Australian native cottage garden. With so many beautiful blooms to choose from, that is really saying something!
This Monarch is the King or Queen of paper daisies in my opinion. This plant brings me so much joy as it displays an abundance of huge golden crowns of crinkly paper like blooms that sparkle like gold in the sunlight. The golden blooms are held high above a neat domed grey green plant that has a pleasing softness next to the sharp sparkly energy of those paper-like flowers.
Xerochysum bracteantha Dargan Hill Monach
Xerochysum bracteantha Dargan Hill Monach
Xerochysum bracteantha Dargan Hill Monach
This hardy plant also has incredible stamina – it will flower on and on and on from spring and into early winter if you let it. But I usually do find a good time to trim back all the flowers to give it a well earned rest. The secret to long flowering is of course to dead-head it, or in plain language that means to cut off the old blooms as soon as they start to decline. The earlier you cut them the more blooms you will get.
They also make wonderful cut flowers for your vase and will last such a long time inside. Or leave them in a dry bud vase to dry out and enjoy their golden crinkly goodness for many months.
In the garden you can also leave the flowers to mature and enjoy the feathery clouds of seeds that develop on pollinated flowers. I find them just as fetching at this mature stage!
Xerochysum bracteantha Dargan Hill Monach
Xerochysum bracteantha Dargan Hill Monach
Xerochysum bracteantha Dargan Hill Monach
When you have a bag of lovely mature seed, they are dead easy to grow so you can have golden crowns galore for your garden or to give to friends. The secret to growing them from seed is light! It doesn’t seem like that much of a secret really, as these golden blooms seem made of golden sunshine to me. Sow the seed on top of the soil, don’t be tempted to cover them with anything. Make sure your seed tray gets lots of sunshine. Sometimes it is hard to keep it moist AND have sunshine, so a light covering of cling wrap may help to keep the moisture in while they germinate. But I don’t find it is always necessary.
Xerochysum bracteantha Dargan Hill Monach with Tetratheca thymifolia 'Fairy Bells Pink'
Eremophila nivea Beryl’s Blue, Xerochrysum bracteantha Dargan Hill Monach, Anigozanthos Bush Diamond Kangaroo Paw, Chorizema cordatum
Xerochysum bracteantha Dargan Hill Monach, Bulbine bulbosa, Xerochrysum Bracteantha Daisy Fields Gold.
This stunning Australian native plant is also versatile. Plant it into a pot, in sandy soil or in clay loam. If you have heavy clay then I’d suggest opting to either mound the earth up for planting, plant is a raised garden bed or if you have a natural bank or slope then plant it there so it doesn’t get overly wet feet. Most important regardless of your soil – plant in full sun!
It’s no surprise that this very embodiment of sun in a flower also needs good sun to bloom. At least 3/4 day of sun is required to get good flowers. Otherwise it can tend to reach for the light and grow a bit leggy.
Dargan Hill Monarch may be a little hard to find – but trust me that it is worth the effort. Ask your local native plant nursery to source it for you. It’s a perennial, not an annual like the pink and white paper daisies you often see. Although I would still consider it short-lived – lasting about 2 to 3 years before it gets leggy and needs to be replaced.
I thoroughly recommend adding a beautiful Dargan Hill Monarch paper daisy to your garden!
If you’d like to try adding more paper daisies to your garden, then the list of my favourite paper daisies here and all the magnificent colours of paper daisy available in my paper daisy photo gallery here.
Fab information, thank you for the detail! Growing this Xero for the first time and am super stoked about it.