Shakas to the Shasta
The shasta daisies are starting to bloom. Big, bold, white and decidedly ‘daisy-like’. Did you know, the term ‘daisy’ comes from ‘day’s eye’ because many daisies open when the sun’s out and close up at night! The daisy family (Asteraceae) is the biggest, if not second biggest (ongoing rivalry with Orchidaceae), family of flowering plants.
Shasta daises are actually a hybrid, bred over 17 years from several different daisies - the resulting white flower apparently reminded the breeder, Luther Burbank, of the snowy Mount Shasta (a potentially active volcano!) in northern California. I thought that was weird, because they grow so well here in my subtropical garden, but they are tolerant of an amazing temperature range. Although they will die back in cold climates, they are relatively frost tolerant and definitely drought tolerant. Apparently they can struggle with high humidity but I haven’t seen any sign of that yet over the last few years.
When I say ‘starting to bloom’ I literally mean starting. There are two open flowers on my plant - but lots of buds!
If they’re happy in their spot they’re a little bit… let’s say ‘exuberant’ (calling them a thug would be mean!) and will form a big clump, but they are easy to pull up and share with friends. They flower non stop through spring to autumn and even when they fall over because they’ve grown too tall for their boots they turn their heads towards the sun and how can you not love them! Because the leaves don’t die back here, even when they aren’t flowering they are a happy splodge of green which I think looks good all year round.
Look at the fractal pattern in the centre. Amazing. You’ll notice each of the white ‘ray’ petals is actually it’s own flower with it’s own set of stamens. It’s a daisy thing! The central yellow hexagons are all individual flowers too (closed except for a few in the bottom right).
Before I go, let’s just have a childish moment and talk about the scientific name. The scientific name you ask? Childish? Well…. it’s Leucanthemum × superbum. Grown ups and respectable horticulturists will say superb-um. I will always call them super-bum!
The photo bombing assasin bug.