Friday, May 29, 2009

My Daisies


I admit it, my garden has too many daisys. This is a hard time for me, as I know I should dig a bunch out because they are crowding my other perennials, and I should be planting some annuals were the daisys are, but I can't bear to thin them out when they are flowering so divinely.

A cool thing about daisys that the non botanist may not know - each daisy flower is actually a an inflorescence, a cluster of flowers on a stem. Small yellow disc flowers in the middle, surrounded by ray flowers, each sporting a single long white petal. If you look close the disc flowers are arranged in very precise mathematical order. I've always wondered how many of these tiny flowers make up what we call a daisy flower, but I've sure been too lazy count them.

3 comments:

one-eared pig said...

You can never have too many daisies. My black-eyed susans are like that. They spread and fill everything. So, I just find new places in my yard to put them.

And I learned something new! :)

Ellen said...

That reminds me - I used to have daisies in my yard - wonder what happened to them?
I will certainly take a closer look next time I'm standing next to one; thanks to you.

Anonymous said...

I love daisies, and have never really gotten them to take hold. Now, my bee balm, on the other hand - I think it is going to take over the world. It's not blooming yet this year, but the patch holds lots of promise.

I think I did know that about the daisies, or maybe I'm close in my memory. I thought they were compound flowers, is that the same thing as you described, or is that something different?