April Gift Flower: Daisies

These simple but happy flowers don't usually bloom in Missouri in April so I waited to get some good pictures.

When I first started learning to identify Missouri wildflowers, this was the second easiest plant to identify. Ox-eye daisies grow from a ground-hugging green wreath of a start, the leaves frilly around the edges. When they are ready to bloom, the stems seem to shoot up overnight.

When finished blooming, the stems dry and the little ground-hugging wreath returns.

There are a number of other daisy-like varieties on the market. Shasta daisies are the domesticated version of these wild cousins but to me, Ox-eye daisies will always be what I think of when someone says daisy.

In the Victorian "language of flowers," these cheerful white flowers represent beauty and innocence.

 Charlotte