Gerberas and the newer Garvinea varieties brighten gardens with long-lasting, vibrant blooms, offering improved disease resistance, extended flowering seasons, and exceptional performance in both pots and garden beds.

Gerberas make us recall long stemmed colour flowers used in floral arrangements and borders in the garden. The gerbera is a type of daisy and they are known by a variety of names including Gerber or transvaal daisies. The flowers are now often vibrant and larger than their ancestors. When bought as cut flowers they usually have a wire around the stem and into the flower head to stop them from drooping. They cannot tolerate heavy frosts and are prone to several diseases such as powdery mildew, rust, or root rot.

The larger amazing flowers of the gerbera have been further developed and now are often used as short-term indoor plants. They come in a glorious range of bright colours, and larger bloom size to lend themselves to this. Alas they are not a permanent plant when used as this, and even when used outdoors are not as hardy when it comes to diseases.

Garvinea is a newer variety of gerbera which has been developed as a tougher garden variety, with impressive disease resistance. They prefer warm regions and a full sun position, with flowers developing in spring to autumn, either in pots or massed garden displays.  They are a hardy plant and are known to grow back after a harsh winter, even when they have lost their flowers and leaves. Garvineas have been bred by crossing multiple varieties of gerbera from across the world and resembles a gerbera flower but the leaves and growing habit are slightly different.

Garvinea have a range of flower colour and have proved themselves as a longer-term perennial plant. They work well in a cottage garden or as a border with a profusion of flowers that can be cut and used in floral arrangements.

The old-world gerbera from yester year were considered tough. They pocketed grandma’s garden and needed no maintenance but the colours were rather dull. The breeding went on to increase the flower size and colour range, leading us to the popularised gerberas we see in small pots at nurseries. The small pots of dazzling gerbera in flower are perfect as an indoor splash of colour, where for an enduring plant the Gavinea triumphs. Do not be too harsh on the flashy gerbera but think of them as a brilliant short term inform plant and the gavinea as a garden plant.