There’s something optimistic and cheery about round faced daisies and they come in many sizes. Erigeron karvinskianus (Mexican fleabane) is a tiny daisy – think of the daisies you find on a lawn and that’s about the size of its individual flowers. Happily, this Erigeron produces masses of flowers so you end up with a wonderful tumbling crowd of daises. Unusually, it changes colour as it matures, starting off white and gradually turning pink, so it gives you a wonderful two-tone effect.

This petite daisy loves dry, sunny situations and thrives in poor soil. Low growing, it is good as an edging plant along paths, spilling over walls, as a filler in gravel gardens and it will seed into cracks of paving. It’s also very long flowering – from June to October, providing bees and butterflies with a reliable food plant.

The foliage forms a wiry mass of twigs as it dies back and I tend to trim off the old growth in the autumn or later in early spring as new growth appears. As long as this plant is in a free draining position, it is tough and obliging. Remember, it will seed into paving cracks, which I find endearing, but you might not. You have been warned!