Daisies: I love them, I love them

June 16, 12:06 PMDenver Flower and Gardening ExaminerColleen Smith

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Shasta daisies add a touch of simplicity to my garden  Photos by Quincy Benton

Fresh as a …You got it: daisy! Maybe it’s their milky white petals that make daisies seem an icon of freshness.

A perennial favorite, the Shasta daisies are beginning to bloom in the borders in front of my house. Shasta daisies are a hybrid created in 1890 by Luther Burbank, who named the daisy after Mount Shasta, near his home.

The daisies actually are chrysanthemums. The English name “daisy” comes from the Old English for “day’s eye”—a reference to the flowers’ opening and closing with the sun. Shasta daisies can take Colorado’s intense, full sun, but will tolerate partial shade, too. Some of mine on my northwest corner don’t get sun until late afternoon.

These easy-to-grow flowers bloom and bloom. I do deadhead them; and they get a round of fish emulsion a couple of times during the growing season. Shasta daisies make nice cut flowers, but beware of daisies in a mixed bouquet: I’ve read that they can cause surrounding flowers to wilt.

For more info:  Incorporate daisies into your own white garden.