D is for Daisy

“Daisies 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.

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.

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. 

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. 

 Ladybug Daisies Sculpted Hand-Painted Night Light 6 pieces of 3 inch english daisy, soft yellow bristle in center with plastic stem, short plastic cap at back, color white. Decorative Potted Artificial White Silk Gerbera Daisy Flowers / Faux Floral Decor w/ Round Pot - MyGift® Topix 100x Gerbera Daisy Flowers Heads for DIY Wedding Party (White)

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What Blooms in My Paso Robles Garden at the End of May: Flowers

May is a colorful month in the garden. I have decided to start keeping a record of what blooms each month so that I can predict what my garden will look like every month of the year. My goal is to have some  garden color through all seasons. I took this photo on May 27, 2014. Not all colors come from flowers.

In the foreground you can see the mums which started to bloom a couple of weeks ago. If you look back a bit and to the right, you will see a pot of tricolor sage that adds a touch of purple to the mix. Next to it is a hyssop plant with its tiny blue flowers to feed the bees. The yellow is calendula, and that blooms almost all year and reseeds itself. As you can see, I like to mix plants up in my garden, so it has a somewhat wild look. Now we will take a closer look at individual flowers.

First are the chrysanthemums. I usually associate them with autumn, but these are also blooming for me in spring. I just read that I can take cuttings from these up until the end of the month. I might try it to see if I can make more plants by fall. I have two regular size mums and two miniature ones of different colors spread throughout this garden now. 

Pansies have been special to me since I was a child. My grandmother used to have them planted around her fruit trees in small circular beds. These were planted last fall, and I don't expect they will last much longer as the days get hotter. I'm glad they are still blooming in late May. 

I also planted some petunias in the fall. Most have faded and died, but this pink one still remains. These are technically perennials, but people usually grow them as annuals.  I may not replace them, since they don't do well without more water than I want to give them since water for landscaping is rationed until the end of summer. This petunia is taking cover under an iris leaf. 

Carnations have always had a special place in my gardens because my mother loved them. I still have some carnation plants that came from root divisions of one of her plants. I first started one in our Newbury Park home in Ventura County, and when we moved, I brought it here. I have two babies from that mother plant in my Paso Robles garden now. They produce very light pink flowers. You can see one of those plants below. Although I have been deadheading them, they appear not to be producing many new flowers now, so I think their season may be coming to an end. They have been covered with flowers for the past two months. Now each plant only has a flower or two left.

Since I have long wanted a more colorful carnation, I could not resist this two-tone dark pink with purple Chomley Farran carnation. (See below.) It is not only deeper in color, but the purple markings make it more striking. It seems I planted it too far back in the bed, though,  and the flower stems are much too long as they reach out toward the sun. 

As you can see, in order to keep the flowers from landing on the ground, I've propped them up on some borage plants -- also in bloom with tiny star-like blue flowers. On the far right you can see a single yellow calendula. 

In this next photo I have also mixed the flowers with herbs. I wanted some drought resistant plants in a side bed in a corner between two sidewalks. It has poor soil and doesn't get much water. I decided to plant a Fruity Teucrium there, with a tansy plant on either side of it. I expected the tansy to contrast with the purple flowers of the Teucrium, since the tansy will bloom yellow when it finally blooms. I know tansy spreads, but I didn't expect it to be so much taller than the Teucrium to the extent that it almost blocks it from the light. I will have to cut it back if the Teucrium is to survive. 

Fruity Teucrium Surrounded by Tansy

Another plant I bought new last year was the butterfly blue scabiosa you see here. It's also known as the pincushion flower. I would like to find more of them, and I may plant more from seed, but I think I want deeper and brighter colors if I add more plants. The small blue flowers you see on the right side are from the hyssop plant that shares a border with the scabiosa. 

This is Lamb's Ear. The mother plant came from my Templeton house, where I kept it in a pot because the gophers liked to eat it when it was in the ground. I have terrible gopher problems there, so I always keep the mother plant of anything new in a pot until I see if the gophers like it. Since Lamb's Ear really spreads to the point of being invasive and needs little care, I like to use it where I want to fill in bare ground to suppress the growth of weeds. I love the fuzzy gray Lamb's Ear leaves, and at this time of year the pale  flower stalks shoot up and fill with tiny lavender flowers. If you look carefully, you will see the bees love them. 

Last in this post I will show you my star jasmine which started blooming in May and which I expect to keep blooming all summer. It's attractive in moderation, but it tends to want to bury my border plants and I have to keep it well-trimmed. It does provide a nice background for contrast with the calendula, sage, pansies, godetias, lilies of the Nile, and poppies which I planted in front of it near the sidewalk.

The Flanders poppies also bloomed at the end of May as you saw in my last post. 

In my next post I will introduce the herbs that are currently blooming. Please stay tuned.