“I will go pick daisies and have a happy heart” - Kimber Annie Engstrom
The epitome of spring and summer, and childhood innocence, the Daisy is renowned for its cheerful presence and sunny disposition! Daisies are some of the most beautiful flowers in the floral world!
Beyond the wild Daisies that you see popping up along the roadsides and in ditches, there is a vast array of cultivars available for your garden! With the white petals and orange center disks, Daisies are one of the most easily recognizable flowers around!
It is believed that the name Daisy comes from the Old English 'Daes eage', meaning 'day's eye', a reference to how Daisies flowers open at dawn each day.
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All About Daisies
Daisies are found all over the world, except in Antarctica! Daisies (Leucanthemum) are now in the Asteraceae family of flowering plants, one of the largest families of plants in the world, and comprise almost 10% of all flowering plants on Earth.
Forming mounds of green foliage that are almost succulent, longer than narrow, and have toothy lobes. The Daisy flower is really two flowers in one: disk florets and petal-like white ray florets. There is a ring of disk florets on the outside of the orange-to-yellow disk that are actually little flowers! Divided into three main types, the Daisy family includes:
- Common Daisies (Bellis perennis)
- Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare)
- Shasta Daisies (Leucanthemum superbum)
While similar, Gerbera Daisies (Gerbera) are not in the same family as true Daisies, and neither are African Daisy or Cape Daisy (Osteospermum). They have the same flower type and petals but are in a different plant family.
Shasta Daisies tend to have larger centers and taller stems, while Common Daisies can be smaller and spread more. Both are incredibly easy to grow for even the newest gardeners or the busiest gardeners alike!
Using Daisies in Your Landscape
Daisies have had a long history not only for making Daisy chains and foretelling if someone loves you or not but Daisies also have a long history of herbal medicine with therapeutic properties that ease aches and pains.
a fun and youthful addition to a Children's Garden! Daisies are a bright and colorful mailbox garden plant, a small garden specimen, and a large landscape focal point! Daisies even work great in seating areas mixed planters as a filler and specimen or as a sunny porch and patio container garden!
Both refined and wildflower-like for front yard garden beds and beautiful as middle to back-of-the-border accents, Daisies will delight your mixed perennial borders and Cottage gardens!
Vital pollen and nectar resources for pollinators and beneficial insects, the Daisy is versatile, easy to grow, and there is a toughness hidden behind the lovely blooms!
Spreading into polite clumps, you can use Daisies in mass plantings and in large groupings or swaths of easy-breezy cheer!
Nature Hills Nursery Top 5 Daisy Plants
Shasta Daisies are the largest family of ornamental Daisy plants at Nature Hills! Between the Amazing Daisies® line of plants and the REALFLOR® line of Daisies plus many other options, meaning there are so many pretty varieties for you to choose from! Check out these 5 fan-favorite Daisies at NatureHills.com!
5. Darling Daisy™ Shasta Daisy
Dwarf Daisies that only grow 6 inches tall and wide, the Darling Daisy™ Shasta is perfect as low-growing edging along the fronts of your garden borders, in container gardens, and works great as facer plants, or skirting around larger trees and shrubs. Darling Daisy™ just shines in the sun in groupings and as solo focal points that draw in the butterflies!
4. Alaska Shasta Daisy
The Alaska Shasta Daisy is a big 2-3 foot tall perennial with large blooms on long stems. Returning all summer with deadheading, the long fringy petals look great in bouquets and are huge landing pads for bees and butterflies! Big specimens and accents, Alaska Daisy is a fantastic back-of-the-border perennial in your beds and borders!
3. Amazing Daisies® Marshmallow Shasta Daisy
Ruffled and fluffy, double blooms The Marshmallow Shasta Daisy by Proven Winners® is a unique and stand-out specimen plant! Forming showy clumps of long-stemmed enormous, frilly white blooms atop deep green spear-like foliage! Any sunny garden or container location will become a showy fluffy and sweet accent!
2. Goldfinch Shasta Daisy
A bright yellow double-petalled Goldfinch Daisy has gold centers that create a sunny, frilly, and cheerful specimen plant! The bright yellow petals age to pale cream. The strong stems and scalloped green leaves form 2-foot tall and wide clumps!
1. Becky Shasta Daisy
The traditional-looking garden standard, the Becky Daisy has a shining and heavily
Forming on strong straight stems that rise above mounds of toothy, lance-shaped leaves ranging from light to dark green, the blooms are must-haves for cut flower gardens! Filling your bouquets with loads of cheerful blooms all growing season long. A long blooming variety, Becky is a fantastic old-fashioned with modern hardiness and a low-maintenance nature!
Honorable Mentions:
- Whoops-A-Daisy Shasta Daisy - A new and improved dwarf Leucanthemum is so much more than the old standard Snowcap Daisy in many ways. Forming magnificent dense, rounded ball-shaped mounds of dark green foliage, completely covered in large 3-4 inch white flowers with gold centers that are also fuller and fluffier.
- REALFLOR® Real Galaxy Shasta Daisy - An incredibly lacy bloom that looks more like Daisy Fleabane than other Shasta Daisies! Their fine-textured super slender double row of petals look so frilly! Starting as buttery yellow buds that open into pure white, each 4-inch bloom is highlighted the bright golden centers like luxury lashes!
Easy Daisy Care!
If you have a location with full sun and well-drained soil, then the herbaceous perennial Daisy plants will reward you with years of blooms! Water Daisies during dry periods and use a slow-release fertilizer in early spring.
A 3-4 inch thick layer of mulch helps in especially drought-prone areas, and in colder climates add a thick layer of mulch for protection. One thing Daisies despise is soggy soil, especially soil that stays wet in winter.
As soon as the flowers begin to fade, wither, or turn brown, Daisies should be deadheaded to encourage vigorous growth and rebloom, this makes the Daisy boasts a longer blooming period. Daisy clumps can be divided every few years to promote better growth and vigor.
Low-maintenance and easy to grow, that is all these plants need in the way of care. Do You
Love Daisies Or Love Them Not?
No petal plucking needed! We know you will love Daisies! Keep their petals on and instead feed bees and butterflies, fill your garden in cheer, and bring the cheer indoors with charming vase arrangements all because of these cheerful, easy-to-grow blooms!
Check out all the cheerful harbingers of spring available at NatureHills.com and get growing Daisies in your landscape today!
Happy Planting!
