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Daisies, Daisies and
More Daisies
Daisies
are among the most well-known and popular flowers of
all, as well they might be: who can resist the simple,
cheerful, sunny faces and delicate petals of a fresh
bouquet of them? Charming harbingers of spring, daisies
will bring a smile to anyone's day.
Yellow Daisies In A Basket
 The
word "daisy" is thought to have evolved from the Old
English term "day's eye", a reference to the flower's
center, surrounded as it is by lashes of petals, and
implying that it opens by day and closes as night
(although this isn't really the case with most of the
flowers that we call daises). In fact, because the
flower looked so much like an eye, daisies were once
thought to cure eye problems. Botanically, daisies
belong to the very large family of plants known as
Asteraceae (formerly Compositae), or "composite
flowers". The name derives from the fact that a daisy
inflorescence is actually composed of two different
types of flowers. The flattened, bull's-eye center
portion is crowded with perhaps hundreds of tiny,
so-called "disc" florets; these in turn are surrounded
by the "ray" florets that we call the petals. It is this
botanical feature which links all daisies and daisy-like
flowers, including asters, sunflowers, gerbera daisies,
black-eyed Susans, chrysanthemums, etc.
Daisies have long been associated with youth and
purity....hence the phrase "fresh as a daisy". Wedding
bouquets with daisies would certainly be appropriate for
a young bride or her attendants. In Victorian times,
when hidden meanings were associated with many flowers,
daisies signified innocence and gentleness. Perhaps it
is these qualities which makes them such good
fortune-tellers ("...she loves me, she loves me
not...")! Today of course, we often think of sending
daisies whenever we want to cheer someone up.
The flowers which are most often sold as daisies in
modern flower shops are usually a daisy-flowered type of
spray chrysanthemum, or "daisy pompon" as it's known in
the trade. Occurring with several flowers to the stem,
these daisy pompons are sturdier and longer lasting than
traditional Marguerite daisies, and they're available in
a wide range of colors and sizes. Gerbera daisies,
originally native to South Africa, have become
enormously popular in recent years, and they're being
used in everything from casual vase arrangements to
sophisticated wedding bouquets. Hybridizers have
succeeded in developing gerbera daisies in a tremendous
variety of sizes, textures, and colors; there is a
gerbera which will coordinate with virtually any
decorating scheme or wedding theme.
As always, your local professional florist can guide you
in selecting the right daisies for the right occasion.
Buy them for yourself or for someone else...no one could
ever send a bad message with daisies. Just please don't
eat them! But that's a tale for another day.
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*This article is cited from
flowershopnetwork.com |
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