That of all the floures in the mede,
Thanne love I most these floures white and rede,
Suche as men callen daysyes in her toune.
-Geoffrey Chaucer, The Legend of Good Women.
Daisies or ‘day’s eye’ are so called because of their fascination with the Sun and how they seem to follow it around all day. The Gerbera daisies have been named after the German botanist, Truagott Gerber, who traveled extensively to Russia to study Russian specimen. They are native to South Africa, which explains why they can be grown as perennials only in warm regions because they require sunny conditions and are not very tolerant to even the slightest change to what is considered suitable climate for
gerbera daisies to grow. Elsewhere they are grown indoors as a Flower houseplant. Because of their stunning beauty, a lot of people prefer to have their gerberas potted rather than in the garden.
These fussy flowers do well in a well-drained soil. When you set out to plant a gerbera daisy, take it out of its pot, loosen up the roots of the plant and then plant it in your garden. Keep the plant well watered and fertilize it once a week. Gerbera daisies can also be propagated from seeds so you could sow them if you like but it is a rather time consuming process and it takes at least six months for the seeds to survive. However these plants do not have a very long life, with good care, gerbera daisies can last up to 6 weeks. Keep them in sunlight or even artificial light for best results.
Legend of the Gerbera Daisies.
A Roman legend has it that a nymph Belides was dancing along with the other nymphs at the edge of the forest when she was spotted by the God of the Orchards Vertumnus. To escape his attention she transformed herself into a gerbera daisy. The gerbera daisies are a symbol of childhood innocence, simplicity and modesty- the last two characteristics being carried over from the Victorian times. Heartbroken Victorian maidens would pluck the petals of the gerbera daisy while chanting ‘he loves me, he loves me not’ and it was the outcome of the last petal that was suppose to predict their future. Another well known practice was that a young maiden would pluck a handful of daisies with her eyes closed, the number of blossoms in her fist would indicate the number of years left till she got married.
Its modest simplicity also made the gerbera daisy a favorite of many a poets right from Geoffrey Chaucer to William Wordsworth. It wasn’t a seductive flower like the Orchid but nevertheless its beauty was much admired. It was also very popular because of its healing powers particularly with the infamous King Henry VIII who ate dishes made out of daisies because he believed it would cure his stomach ulcers. It was also believed that crushed daisies mixed with wine could cure insanity!
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