What it is
Zexmenia (Wedelia acapulcensis hispida) is in the Asteraceae (Daisy) family. A bulletproof native with orange-yellow daisies all summer — handles heat, drought, and part shade alike.
How to grow it
It wants full sun to part shade, water it very low, and give it lean, well-drained soil. Target a soil pH around 6.5–8.0. Space plants about 18 in apart. Expect roughly Blooms spring–fall. Hardy native perennial.
How it's used
Zexmenia is used: ornamental; pollinator.
🔎 How to identify it
- Rough dark-green leaves
- Sprawling mound
- Orange-yellow daisies
Not for eating
How to grow & propagate zexmenia
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate zexmenia
The daisy family is a seed family — those flower heads are seed factories, and most members come up fast and willing from direct sowing. The perennial members (coneflower, black-eyed Susan, the native sunflowers) also clump up over a few years and can be lifted and split in fall or early spring to make free plants and keep the center from dying out.
Growing zexmenia in Texas
Give it full sun to part shade and lean, well-drained soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
Time your planting to our long warm season and watch the frost dates at both ends; the live weather tool on this site is built for exactly that.
Once it's rooted in, this is a low-water plant — overwatering does more harm than drought here. Water deeply to establish, then back off and let it prove how tough it is.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly blooms spring–fall before you're harvesting.
Making more for free
If you want more, let your healthiest plants mature fully and collect the seed once it's dry on the plant — then store it somewhere cool, dark, and dry until next season.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.