Daisies give me instant nostalgia.
They’re the flower that springs into the mind of a child if you ask them to draw one, proof that they are perhaps one of the most classic flowers you can grow.
They are a simple, joyful and relatively cheap way to fill space and give your garden a romantic, cottage-style look, and the potential for daisy chains and the petal-pulling ‘they love me, they love me not’ game make them invaluable to anyone with young children.
The most well-known kinds of perennial daisies include the Shasta daisy, Leucanthemum × superbum, and the Argyranthemum genus, which includes the popular Australian-bred Federation daisy varieties.
Shasta daisies have that classic yellow centre with white petal appearance, while Argyranthemums come in white, pink, yellow, purple, and can have decorative-looking centres and single or double blooms.
Shasta daisies can be propagated by seed in spring, but will only bloom the following spring, so for instant effect, seedlings or mature plants are preferable.
The potential for daisy chains make them invaluable to anyone with young children.
Federation daisies and the other Argyranthemums on the market are usually sold in containers at maturity.
All of these daisy varieties will begin to bloom in spring and continue through til autumn.
For the best effect, plant them in full sun, however they can tolerate light degrees of shade.
Daisies can look great in pots, but can also be planted directly into the garden.
Make sure the soil has good drainage, and water the plants regularly over the warmer months.
In spring you can give your daisies the best head start for their flowering phase by applying mulch around the base to suppress weeds, and giving them a feed with liquid fertilizer.
Through spring, summer and autumn, deadheading the plants is recommended to ensure the plant’s energy is translated into fresh flushes of flowers.
At the end of flowering, in autumn, it is recommended that you trim your daisy bushes, but only 1/3 of the bush at the most.
This will encourage fresh foliage growth over winter and help to control the size of the plants.