Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® Masters Theses & Specialist Projects Graduate School 1-1985 The eP rformance of Gazania Splendens Cultivars Under Kentucky Conditions Ellen Sue Justiss Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses Part of the Agriculture Commons, and the Horticulture Commons Recommended Citation Justiss, Ellen Sue, "The eP rformance of Gazania Splendens Cultivars Under Kentucky Conditions" (1985). Masters Theses & Specialist Projects. Paper 1735. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1735 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses & Specialist Projects by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TilE PERFORNANCE OF GAZANtA SPI.ENDENS CULTIVARS UN DER KENTUCJ.:Y CONDIT IONS A Th esi s Presen t ed to the Fa c u] ty o f the Department of Agriculture "'e s tern Kentucky University Uowling Green , Kentucky In Partial Ful fi ll mc nt o f the RCfJlIi rcmcnts for the Degree Naster of Science by Ellen Sue Justiss January 1985 AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF THESIS Perm.i .aioD ia hereby ~ranted to the Weatern Kentucky Univeraity Library to nake. or aUow to be made photocoplea. m.icrofilm. or other coplea of thia the.la lor appropriate reaearcb or acholarly purpose-. reaerved to the author lor tho: making 01 &Dy copiea 01 thla O the.h except lor brief aectioDa lor rcaearcb or scholarly purposes. SigDed ~lli" ~~~.:c", Date ). /l':i (c,- S • Pleaae place an "X" in the appropriate box. Thh lorm will be filed with the orlg\Da1 01 the theais and ""UI CODtrol future use of the the.b. Tfl" PERFORNANC E OF GAZANIA SPI.ENDENS CULTIVARS UNDER KENTUCKY CONDITIONS Approved /1Ja,u4 ~ S 19 F~ e (Dote) Dean of the Graduat ollege ,\CKNOWLEIJGENENTS r would 1 ike to expr ess my appreciation to the foll owinr,: Dr. J ames :-1. :-la1'tin for hi s a dvice , ass i s tance , and understandinc during my er;'lduate s tudy and in preparation of this thes i s . Or . James P . I~orth in g ton for his advice in pr e : aring t h i s thes i s a nd for serving as a member of the r.radu<l.te cor'mi ttcc . Dr. LJil v i d Coff e y for his sugR"'st ions and for serving a s a member of the r.raduate comm ittee. John I/o lde n and Ba ll Seed Compa ny for donating the seeds used in this evalu.3t ion. Ri chard Beckert a nd Ki m Sage - Sowder for the ir ass i stance in preparinc this thes i s . Spec ial thanks to my fam ily for their support and unde r s tandinc through ­ ou t my s tudy 'H l.J es t crn Ke ntucky Univer s ity. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE INTHOIJUCTION • • • • 1 REV I F.hf OF LITERATURE 3 Hi s tory and Norphology 3 Culture 4 Propaga t ion I, Land sci.Jpc Use I, Hescarch 5 ~ IAT ER IAl. S AND ~IET IIODS 6 RESULTS ,\ND DISCUSSION 9 Cultivar Descriptions 20 APPENDIX • 42 LITERATURE CITED iv LIST OF TABLES PAGE Table 1. Ge rmination test results of Gazania s plendens ' Sundance Striped' and ' Sundance Red' with varying li~ht and temperature. 9 Table 2. Average numb er of f l owers per plant on Gazania splcndcns c ultivars . 10 Table 3 . Fl ower stem s tiffness of Gazania s plendcns c ultivars 15 Table ~. /\verage height of Gazania s plendens cuI tivaLs 16 Table 5. Average I.:idth of Cazania spl endens cultivars 17 Table 6. Foliage characteristics of Cazania splendens c u ltivars 19 v LIST OF FIGUR ES PAGE "'igure 1. Cu lt i var by month i nter act i on: ( a ) 'Grand iflor a Ni x t ur c ', (b) 'Ninis t ar Ye llow' , (c) 'Go l den Na r gar ita ', (d) 'Sundance Ye l1m .. · .. .... 12 Fi r. ure 2. Cul tivar by month i nterac t ion: (a) 'Grandiflor a Mi xture ' , (b) ' Ninistar r-lix t ur e ' , (c) ' Special ~I i xt ur e ' , (d) 'Sundance Stripe d' I (e) 'Chansone tte :-lixture ' 13 Figure J . Cult i var by month inter act i on: (a) 'Gr and if1or a Mi xture ', (b) 'Mi ni s t ar Ni x ture '. (c) ·Ye llo·. Mar gar i ta ', (d) ' Sunslline Giant s ' .. 14 Figure 4. Gazania s p1 e nd e ns 'Gr andi f l or a Mi x ture ' ; (a) plant; (b) fl ower . ..... 21 Fi gure 5. Ga7.a nia s ple ndens ' Go lde n Mar garita ': ( a) plant ; ( b ) l e af s hape ; (c) flower ... 23 Fi gure 6 . Gazani a s 2le ndens ' Ninist3r Ye llow' : (a) pl ant: (b ) flol.. er 25 Fi gure 7 . Gazania s p: lendens ' Sundance Ye l low ' : ( 0 ) plant; (b) f l owe r 27 Figure o. Gazania s ple nde ns ' ~l ini s tar Nix ture ': (a) flower; ( b) leaf shap e 29 Figure 9 . Gazan ia s ple ndens 'Special Mi x ture ' : (a) plant : ( b ) fl o"'er .... .. 32 Figure 10 . Cazan ia s ple ndens 'C hansone t te Ni x ture ': (a) pl anti (b) leaf s hape; ( e) flowe r . 34 Fi gur e 11 . Gazan i a. ~ pl e n de n s ' Sun dance Ni xture ': (a) plant: ( b ) fl ower . ... .. 36 Figure 12. Gazani a s ple nd ens 'Ye llow r-largarita ': ( a ) pla nt; ( b ) leaf s hape ; (c) f l o wer . ... 38 Figure 13. Gazania s plende ns ' Sun s hi ne Giants ' : ( 0) plant; ( b ) l e a f s hape ; (e) flower . .... 40 vi THE PERfORNANCE Of GAZANIA SPLENDENS CULTIVARS UNDER KENTUCKY CONDITIONS Ellen Sue Jus tiss January 1985 ~4 pages Direc t ed by: Dr. J a mes ~Iartin, Dr. James I"orthington , Dr. David Coffey Department o f ;\Rric ul ture West ern Ke ntuc ky Univers ity Gazania s plc ndens i s a tender . herbaceous pe r e nnial that belongs t o the Compos it.). e family. Th e l eaves are green and glabrous above , whitc- r omcntose be neath , too thed, s i mpl e and/or pinna tif id , l,"- 6" long t a pe ring to a winged pe tiol e , lanceola t e t o obovatc - lanceolatc, and arranged in a basal c lump. The fl O\~c r heads are large , shm,,"y . 2"-3" in diame t e r. and r a nGe in col or from white t o yellow, orange , pink, purple , ruby. and bronze with a dark ring or s pot at the bas e of mos t. Twelve c Ui.tivars o f Gazania splendens we r e to be e valuated to dete r- mine whic h \.'ould pe rfor m t he bes t under Kentucky conditio ns . A s e e d ge rmina tion tes t "'as conduc t e d to chec k the E.>nvironment a l cond i tions tho ugh t t o g i ve the bes t germination rate . Physical c ha rac t e ris tics we r e ob serve d for e ach cultivar throughout the growing s eason. A seed eer mi n:ltion t es t was co ndUcted using See(l ' t om ' Sundance Red' a nd ' Sundanc e Striped'. Th e seeds \"'cre tes t ed ilt bo t h 1 S . So C and 22°C in light a nd d a r k conditions . The hiche s t pe rcentage of seed s ge rminated a t 22°C in t he d a rk . Seed frofT! each c ultivar wa s s O\ .... n in f lats containing J iffy Ni x Plus media , wa t e r ed , cove r e d Kith blac k plasti c a nd "'hite S :: y rofoa m trays . a nd pu t in the gree nho use f or cerminntion. Th e seedlings l~' e r e trans - plante d into cell packs containing Suns hine Nix media. ' Sundance Re d' ha d a ve ry l o \.' germination pe rcentage and was the only cultivar not trans- planted. Th e plants were later planted in beds at the Western Kentucky University Farm. vii Physical characteristics wer e e valua ted throughout the growing season. In the evaluation, monthly flower counts were take n, flower stem s tiffness wns me .:\ s ured, pl a nt height was measured , plant width was measured, foliace characteristics we r e noted, and s pent flower heads and dead l eaves were observed. The flO\,,'er s were also observe d throughout the growing season to e valuate their opening and closing habits. This c harac t eri s tic i s thought t o be i n res ponse t o the amount of s unlight the plant r eceives . From the evaluation. it was found tha t ' Grandi f lora Mixture', ' Go lden Nargarita ' , 'Ninistar Yellow' J ' Sundance Yellow', a nd ' ~ Iinist ar ;Hxture ' we re the bes t cultivars for Kentucky. Th ese c ulti vars exhibited abundant flowers, s trong flower stems , good foliage c haracteri stics . and s pe nt flower heads and dead l eaves we nt unnoticed throughout the growing season. viii r NTROIlUCTION 8eddinc p lants aI''' an i mport ant part of the landscape display.