Tuesday, April 05, 2016

D is for Daisy



D is for DaisyDaisies infinite Uplift in praise their little growing hands, O'er every hill that under heaven expands.”By Ebenezer Elliott, English Poet

Daisy is simply a nickname for the Shasta daisy, a member of the diverse family of chrysanthemums. But why make it complicated? For my purposes in this AtoZchallenge, D is for daisy.  

I remember daisies growing in the garden of my childhood home. I used to add their petals to mudpies for a reason that now escapes my grown-up mind. The daisies in these photos grow next to the pumphouse on our Templeton property. I know I grew them from dividing a daisy somewhere else, so I must have brought the cutting from our previous home. Later, I divided an oregano plant and put it next to the Shasta daisy. The oregano is in bloom, but the daisy is just starting to bud. The photo was taken in July.


D is for Daisy
Daisy Buds in Midst of Blooming Oregano, © B. Radisavljevic, #AtoZchallenge


In the photo below, the daisy is just opening. This photo was also taken in early July, the day after the photo above.

D is for Daisy
Daisy Opening, © B. Radisavljevic, #AtoZchallenge


The next photo taken about ten days later shows the mature daisy, It has already attracted a visit from a crab spider who may take up residence there. 

D is for Daisy
Crab Spider on Shasta Daisy, © B. Radisavljevic, #AtoZchallenge

These daisies may not be prize specimens, but considering that they've had little care and have never been fed, they do pretty well. I had to laugh when I read that Shasta daisies thrive in fairly rich, moist, well-drained soil in a sunny spot. I guess mine aren't thriving, since the soil is far from rich. They do have a sunny spot and, although they may not be thriving, they are certainly surviving. 

Are you growing any daisies? If not, they are easy to grow. Try it. You can find many seed varieties at Amazon if you can't find what you want locally, or you can see if a friend growing daisies will share a root division.

Root divisions will be blooming before you know it if planted in spring. It's better, though, to plant them in fall so they can get established before it's time for the flowers to bloom.

Root divisions are easy to get. All you need to do is find a mature plant, get a shovel, dig deep under enough of the plant to get some roots, and pull out what's in your shovel. Keep the roots in water and the plant shaded until you get to where you will plant your root division. Do it before the day ends if you can. Have your planting place in full sun ready ahead of time.

It's best to plant at dusk or dawn rather than when the sun is bright and hot. Once planted, water well. Keep soil moist for a couple of weeks and then water as necessary. The gardening books on plant propagation will tell you to do a lot more than this, but this has worked for me. I've read the plant propagation books, and own many, but I don't always follow their expert advice to the letter. I've learned a lot just from other gardeners, and I also like to experiment to see what works for me. 

Do you love daisies but aren't  a gardener? There are some very realistic artificial daisies available now on Amazon with very reasonable prices. See some below. And if you would like daisies to light up your nights, check out the hand-sculpted daisy night light, complete with visiting ladybug, below.  I'm one of those people who needs a faint night light at night in my hallway and in my room. 

If you enjoyed this blog, why not leave a comment or pin the photo below to one of your Pinterest boards? Sharing buttons are above comment box below. 

D is for Daisy




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember being surrounded by Daisies as a kid and thinking that Dandelions were prettier, but I couldn't figure out why my Grandma planted one on purpose and made my Grandpa get rid of all of the others! Hahaha!

I'm looking forward to many more of your garden observations :-)

Dan Miller said...

Very nice images here and lots of interesting information. We're still waiting for the wild irises to pop up here but it will be a while. In the meantime, I enjoyed your post about Daisys.

Dan Miller
http://www.impressionevergreen.com

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