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Horticultural cultivars. Perennial of the Asteraceae family, most often treated as an annual in climates with cold and wet winters, horticultural gazanias result from intensive hybridization conducted since the 19th century, mainly from Gazania rigens and a few other South African species. They do not correspond to any natural botanical entity and are grouped under the name of horticultural cultivars attached to G. rigens.
These selections form low and compact clumps of 20 to 30 cm, with dark green foliage, cut to lobed, often glossy on the upper side. The capitula, large and very conspicuous, offer an exceptionally wide palette: yellow, orange, brick red, pink, cream, often striped or bicolored with a contrasting dark ring around the central disc. This eye pattern, characteristic of the genus, is particularly accentuated in modern series.
Like all gazanias, the flowers close at night and remain closed in cloudy weather, a behavior linked to the photosensitivity of the ligules.
In cultivation, flowering extends from May until the first frosts. They require full sun and well-drained soil, dry to moderately fresh; they quickly wither in heavy and wet soil. Hardy only up to -3 or -5°C in dry conditions, they are generally renewed each year in regions with cold winters.