A daisy strewn lawn is a lovely thing – redolent of idle childhood days spent making chains and head-dresses. Few of us mind them popping up in the garden – we are encouraged not to mow over them these days, but whether you like very short grass or not, the lawn daisy – Bellis perennis – is low growing and usually manages to escape decimation, ducking under the mower blades and then quickly sending up new flowers from the base. These little natives are real masters of survival, eking it out in paving cracks and dense sward, cheerily flowering all through spring and summer.
Their name derives from ‘day’s eye’, due to the way that they open out wide in the morning and close up at night – a simple and charming tactic to preserve moisture and hide from hungry herbivores. We tend to think of daisies having white petals with a yellow centre, but the Asteraceae family is enormous and within it there are enough daisy flowers to fill your garden for most of the year. These are summer-loving plants in the main, but as the season drifts from summer into autumn late comers like Echinacea, Asters and Rudbeckias arrive to enjoy a glorious, sun bursting last hurrah.

Perfect for Pollinators

We love daisies for their simple, open centred shape, a central disc surrounded by petals – like a child’s drawing of a flower. Except that the radial petals are called ray florets – in a ring around the outside, working as a lure to guide in the insects and the middle is actually a mass of tiny individual flowers (disc florets), each with its own nectary, which is what makes them so popular with pollinators – lots of nectar can be accessed from one place, saving on flying time. The flower heads make convenient landing platforms too, with their wide centres and sturdy stems.
Nectar sources start to dwindle as flowers fade and seeds begin to set, so it’s important to provide a boost from fresh blooms that will be much appreciated by insects out searching for their last meal. Choosing varieties that flower in succession will help to create a continual supply of nectar, and then cutting back and dead-heading flowers once they are past their best will encourage more to be produced, as the plants try to fulfil their mission to set seed for the next generation.
Plants in the Asteraceae family produce prolific quantities of seeds too, so are important food sources for birds and small mammals through the autumn and winter.

Daisies are sun lovers, resilient and, once established, able to thrive in situations that many plants would find almost impossible. The Mexican daisy, Erigeron karvinskianus, or Fleabane, as it’s sometimes called, actively prefers to grow between a rock and a hard place and will quickly proliferate through all the cracks in paving. Full sun for at least 6 hours a day will ensure that daisies bloom well – more shade means fewer flowers, although there are some cultivars that will manage in shadier places if they have to and a few species – Eurybia is one – that will do well in pockets of dry shade.
These happy go lucky plants are not especially prone to pests and diseases. You

may have to watch out for slugs as new shoots appear in the spring and rabbits will munch them to the ground if given the chance. Occasionally they can be attacked by aphids – these are easily dislodged with a squirt of water or – if you’re not squeamish, a quick squish with your fingers.

Best daisies for borders

Although I love the Oxeye daisies of the hedgerows and fields and their larger Shasta daisy cousins (Leucanthemum vulgare and Leucanthemum x superbum), they are enthusiastic, to put it politely, and so better restricted to wilder parts of the garden. The same might go for some of the Michaelmas daisies or Asters, as they are also commonly called. I say commonly, because the names are interchangeable, but a little misleading if you want to keep up with the official botanical labels, which for many of them has been updated to – hard to pronounce and therefore slower to catch on – Symphyotrichum.
There are tall daisies for the back of the border – not just annual Sunflowers like ‘Russian Giant’, but perennials too – try Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ for a burst of late lemony sun, or H. salicifolius, a towering variety – this one often grows to over 1.8m, with graceful willowy leaves.
Low growing, floriferous daisies for the front of the border are very useful – Anthemis tinctoria is care-free, cottage garden stalwart. I grow a pale butter yellow variety called ’E C Buxton’ or try the creamy and delicious sounding ‘Sauce Hollandaise’. Cut Anthemis back hard after its first enthusiastic flush for more flowers later in the summer. Neater, and in shades of blue, mauve, pink or white are the smallest of the Asters/Symphyotrichum that will clump up into floriferous mounds. ‘Early Blue’ is a good one.

Daisies don’t usually climb, but Thunbergia alata, or Black-eyed Susan, as it’s more commonly called, is a useful tender climber for adding height in container displays

Containers

A wide range of daisies is available to grow as bedding for pots – some of these are not very hardy, so are treated as annuals, although most are actually tender perennials, and given protection over winter, will, after a haircut and a feed, happily show up for next year’s display. Osteospermums from South Africa are almost hardy, and in a mild winter or sheltered, free-draining position, will keep coming back year after year. Smaller and daintier is the Argyranthemum, or Marguerite, which will flower prolifically throughout the summer, just trim back occasionally to keep them looking fresh. Again, these are tender perennials, often treated as annuals, so may not last the winter. A favourite with florists is Gerbera, which has big showy flowers that last well in a vase. My favourite (at the moment) is Tithonia ‘Torch’ – a big vibrant orange daisy – and, a bit like the more popular Cosmos, very easy to grow from seed.

Daisies don’t usually climb, but Thunbergia alata, or Black-eyed Susan, as it’s more commonly called, is a useful tender climber for adding height in container displays. Available in a range of colours, all with a distinctive black eye, it will keep flowering all season, packing a punch from June until the frosts.

Extending the Season

Rudbeckias, Echinaceas, Asters and Heleniums are brilliant for blooms at the end of the summer and early autumn. The range of colours are suitably sultry, verging on autumnal – shades of dusky pink, mellow oranges, russet and mahogany, with splashes of blue from the asters. These late comers mix well with other late performers in the borders, but they really come into their own among ornamental grasses. September is when the grasses begin to shimmer in the early autumn light as the sun slants through them and creates silhouettes of flowers and seed heads. Daisies in all their variety contrast especially well with them, bringing solidity to the mix. Many have long lasting seed-heads too,
so once the flowers have finished they persist as punctuation marks in the gently slide towards winter.
Whether you want to encourage wildlife, pep up your pots, or boost your borders, it’s hard not to fall for the simple, cheerful loveliness of these versatile flowers. Daisies aren’t just cute, but a classic that deserve their place in our hearts and our gardens.

Join Jo for a gardening class at her garden in Woodchurch, Kent hornbrookmanor.co.uk.