Newsletter Articles
The Diversity Of The Daisy Family of Plants
By Richard Flowers, ACCNP-Green Thumb Nursery-Ventura
The name “daisy” is a contraction of the Old English name for the common daisy flower: the ‘day’s eye’. Which implies how daisies open at the brink of dawn and close again when the sun sets. These flowers open in the day and close at night.
The daisy symbolizes purity, innocence, loyalty, new beginnings, joy and cheerfulness. Daisies come in a rainbow of different colors. A white one stands for purity and innocence. Pink flowers are generally symbolic of platonic love, romance, gentleness, and feminine energies. Orange daisy flowers symbolize joy, excitement, healing, happiness, playfulness, and warmth. Red can mean love, passion and romance, while purple daisy flowers trigger that you’re thinking of someone, but also mean spontaneity, peace, unity, and fun as well as royalty and pride. The least common, blue daisy flowers like that of the common and popular Blue Marguerite (Felicia spp.) symbolize trust, honesty and loyalty. So why not head to your favorite Green Thumb Nursery and capture the experience of these wonderful plants.
So what is a daisy flower anyway. Lets dive in and examine what they are all about. The daisy flower belongs to a family of plants called the Compositea (Chrysanthemum) or (Mums). The daisy or aster family of plants is the second largest family of plants in the world aside from the Orchid family. When you look closely at the flowers in your garden or at the nursery notice they have a flower head with well-developed ray flowers usually arranged in one or a few whorls. The brightly colored petals are called rays and the disk flowers are inside of the flower surrounded by the rays. The disk or composite flower is made up of many little flowers. Some daisy plants exhibit more of this feature than others. All daisy plants have this characteristic of ray flowers and disk flowers.
Simply put, the petals are called rays and the inside are disks holding many little flowers (composite). That’s how this plant family got its name. While you are still examining the flowers, take another look at how the flowers are arranged and notice that all daisy plants have flowers that are flat which are used as landing pads making them convenient for pollinating butterflies to drink the nectar which make them excellent butterfly attracting plants. Plant daisies to attract butterflies in your garden. Green Thumb Nursery has so many of these wonderful plants to choose form. Read on and I will provide you with some common examples of the diverse daisy plants.
The daisy family is so diverse it encompasses a wide range of plants from ground covers, succulents, annuals, perennials, herbs/ medicinal/ edible plants, and cut flowers. Many plants have aromatic foliage like that of many dusty millers, mugwort, and Artemisia. Daisy’s are native to almost everywhere in the world except Antarctica. Edible daisy flowers include sunflowers, calendula, chamomile, and dandelions.
Come to Green Thumb nursery and explore the wide variety of Daisy plants that we have. There are multitude of plants that are daisies. Common daisy plants you often see are Gerbera daisy (Gerbera jamesonii) of the floral industry, these come in a variety of colors, some have short stems while other have long stems. The marguerite daisy (Argyranthemum frutescens) is a great perennial that adds color to your landscape, mostly during the spring but oftentimes another flush of flowers occurs in the fall especially in coastal areas. Marguerites come in different colors. Like that of margurites, the colorful Freeway daisies (Osteospermum) also bloom for an extended period of time. The Yellow Daisy Shrub, (Euryops) provides blooming color almost half the year. This shrub is tough and hardy. There is a green leaf and a grey leaf form too. African Daisies and Shasta Daisies are old fashioned favorites. Did you know the Dahlia is a daisy? Erigeron (Fleabane) or Seaside Daisy which is a California native mounding ground cover that takes sea coast conditions very well. Some other California native plants like sage brush (Artemisia californica) and mugwort ( Artemisia douglassiana) are medicinal as well as fragrant. Many attractive grey or silver colored plants like dusty miller belong to this family and are useful with contrasting with other plants. Another fragrant one called Santolina comes in ether grey leaf or green leaf form and have cute button yellow flowers. Santa Barbara Daisy, Coreopsis, and tickseed are also common. The ever popular ground cover called Gazania (both clumping and trailing types) also makes its home with daisy’s, marigolds, calendula, and of course you cant forget about the sunflower. If you ever had a salad
with lettuce then you know you are eating a daisy and don’t forget about the strawberry and artichoke. The daisy flowers in yarrow are so tiny you could hardly see them. Some Yarrow plants are medicinal and have great landscape uses, you can even utilize a certain types of yarrow as a lawn substitute. Yarrow also comes in many colors. Some yarrows are native to California. Some plants mentioned above are only available seasonally. Many daisy type plants can be used as wildflowers and are available in seed only. Daises also look wonderful when planted in containers, in the ground as mass plantings, color, amongst other plants, accents, and texture in the landscape.
Most daisy plants are easy to grow and are relatively carefree however it is recommended to dead head the flowers to make the plants more attractive, grow better, and bloom longer, it is best to do this as spent flowers occur. Most of the plants mentioned tolerate lots of sun but in hotter interior places they deserve some partial shade. Daisy plants like a well drained soil that retrains water. When watering, it is best to do so when the plants need it, depending on conditions. A general rule of thumb is to water when the soil around the root ball half way down is dry. A simple way to determine this is to use a bamboo stake and probe half way down in the soil at the outer edge of the root ball all the way around the plant. If soil / water does not stick to the stake it needs water because it is is dry. If the opposite occurs, the plant does not need water at that time.
Come browse the large selection of cool plants and other home and garden merchandise at your favorite Green Thumb Nursery. If you have any questions our helpful staff will be happy to assist.
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