Daisy

Who hasn’t picked daisies as a child and made a small bouquet for their mother? Doesn’t a pure, bright tone sound in our hearts when we watch small children picking daisies and adorning each other’s hair with them? Children feel an inner closeness to this small, modest flower, which is often overlooked and trodden upon, yet preserves its integrity. The daisy is a lawn and meadow flower.

It belongs to the diverse family of Asteraceae. One can regard the simple, clear structure of the flower head as a prototype of a childlike flower. The ray florets, pink when blooming, later turn pure white; the flower disc is a simple yellow circle. When the lawn is mown for the first time in spring and the flower heads are cut off, it is not long before the plant produces new flowers, though now with shorter stems.

If the lawn is cut even shorter, this little plant immediately adapts again. It seems indestructible, knowing only one thing: to raise its flower head upwards and keep it pure. Where does this strength, this courage come from, that nothing can harm? The plant has an unusually resilient leaf rosette, from which it continually mobilises new strength. Even after fading, the daisy remains beautiful.

The numerous leaves are all ground-hugging and form a dense rosette. Upon close inspection of the leaf structure, we perceive seemingly incompatible characteristics: tough, fleshy leaves that nonetheless exude a strong gloss. Here we recognise an expression of robustness and vitality. When fading, plants generally undergo a clearly visible transformation: the brilliance of colour and splendour of form fade, wilting petals remind us of the transience of all life.

But have you ever seen a faded daisy? Naturally, they make no exception — they too fade like all life. Yet they are gifted to fade so discreetly — the white ray florets fall off quickly without much discolouration and the yellow of the flower disc adopts the green of the lawn — that the faded plants blend almost invisibly into the grass. The daisy seems to want to be nothing but its flower and to escape the consequences of the reproductive process (wilting and ripening).