Daisies have found their way into every garden. They may be in the form of Marguerite, pyrethrum, or any other form, but for many of us they are still daisies. Several annual species, known by few growers are worth a trial by every-one who enjoys the simple charm of daisy flowers.
One of these, the Lazy Daisy, drew cries of all my garden visits tower last summer, and this was not the cause of the botanical name, which is Aphanostephus skirrobasis. The elegant, one-inch blossoms with yellow centers and closely overlapping white petals, awaken memories of gay fields and childhood leukemia in June picnic, but the flowers are smaller and more pointed than petals in their famous cousins.
I sowed mine in early spring while the ground was still cool, sunny bed before a patch of Browallia Sapphire with pink candy tuft in the foreground. This was a happy combination. Because the blade is thin, I left the plants are quite close together. Their attractiveness is not marred by the tendency of each bloom-filled plant to earth bending with his load, the flowers are always dealing with fidelity to the top. In a daisy the shameful habit of late rising can be tolerated when it produces such a pleasant mixture of pink buds and white flowers slowly opening. Once fully awake, they are the most wide-eyed, cheerful blooms in the garden.
The Butter Daisy, Verbesina encelioides, a more robust flower. It grows 40 cm high, flowering from June to November. The bright yellow flowers are indeed a sad reminder of a rich, golden land butter, but there is no scarcity of bloom. The flowers cut well and the oblique, yellow petals with the rather coarse central disk of the same color of the blossoms good neighbors for the blue cornflowers. I, the garden of the bluish tint of the foliage and sturdy, upright growth to add to the value of the plants. The Lazy Daisy and Butter Daisy are both natives of America.
I am very fond of the small South African Sand Daisy, Senecio arenarius, which is sometimes called annual Cineraria. The mauve petals are far apart on a small yellow center and the flowers are borne on plants just 15 inches high. Unfortunately, the period of bloom is not as long as you want, because by mid-summer is over. Despite this, I put it on my list as a "must" for next year.
The color and size of the Sand Daisy reminds something of hardy asters, but the flowers are not produced in such an unrestrained abundance. Five or six flowers open simultaneously on a plant's average age. Their low height and penchant for dry ground makes them suitable for the rockery. A group of Sand Daisies surrounded by the Elfin yellow Viola lutea will, I think, make a nice color. Aphids developed a love for the plants in my garden, but they were kept under control with a neem oil spray.
When a flower grows in shade or sun, as does Madia elegans, it is welcome in most gardens. It looks like an outdoor living room. Madia's densely clustered blossoms in the sun at midday, but 'in the shadow of a house or wall they stay open all day. The petals are a deep yellow, and each triple is so split that with the exception of the color, the flowers resemble miniature replicas of the early Victorian grate edges plates seen in antique shops. A deep rust colored ring in the middle of the flower emphasizes the brightness of the yellow, in that pleasant contrast to the fluffy, gray-green leaf.
Because of their weak stems of the plants require off while still small that they do not become unruly wiry spirals. Eventually the well-branched plants reach a height of three meters. The feathery leaves give the one-inch blossoms a unique look, like a roadside daisy transformed into an enchanting beauty. Perhaps it is because these glorified station Madia elegans more coddling than the other races listed here are required. This resident of the West Coast loves a rich soil and food at regular intervals to maintain its vitality. The beautiful blue eternal Veronica longifolia subsessilis is a willing escort for Madia in the sun, but it lags behind unhappy in the shade, where it should be supplanted by a more pleasant companion, such as Liatris pycnostachya.
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