From UMaine horticulture program, a new flower blooms

ORONO – A new yellow flower developed at the University of Maine from the common black-eyed Susan will be available to Maine gardeners this spring.

The Plainview Farm Daisy, which can reach a height of up to 3 feet and can be propagated by seeds or division, was the result of 11 years of breeding in a garden and greenhouse on campus, said Donglin Zhang of the university’s landscape horticulture program.

The new flower is a perennial. It has several layers of petals that give it a fuller, more rounded appearance than the black-eyed Susan, which typically has one row of petals arrayed in a disk.

Several hundred plants will be sold through the Plainview Farm nursery in North Yarmouth. County offices of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension also will have a few plants for testing under a variety of growing conditions throughout the state.

Another new plant, the UMaine Daisy, is being developed through the university’s landscape horticulture program. The flower

head also is derived from the black-eyed Susan, but it has a hidden black center or eye. The flower appears as a pure yellow mum in gardens.

The program has developed various plants over the years, but is only now in the early stages of distributing those varieties through the state’s garden and landscaping industries.