Daisies, Who Knew?

Recently one beautiful morning I decided to go on a daisy-walk.   In honor of my mom, who loves daisies, I went about to photograph as many daisies as I could. 

I really had no trouble finding the white and yellow bundles of sunshine.  They are abundant on the St. Scholastica campus.   Any space that has not been built upon, paved over or covered with cement is abounding in daisies! 

Daisies have always been a part of the Duluth Benedictines’ story.  Somewhere in our history this land on which our Monastery stands was lovingly dubbed the Daisy Farm.  According to a Pathways article written by +Sister Margaret Clarke “no one knows exactly when the Sisters began referring to the property as the Daisy Farm, but daisies were indeed plentiful on the property.”

With oodles of daisy thoughts in my mind and not to mention tons of pictures on my cellphone, I went to Google to learn more about daisies.  I was surprised to discover that daisies are found

everywhere on the earth except Antarctica. I found that daises are closely related to the artichoke and their leaves edible. Most surprisingly I learned that daisies are actually two flowers in one.  The white petals count as one flower and the cluster of tiny yellow disc petals that form the center eye is technically another. Who knew there was so much to know about daisies? 

If you think about it, daisies are a wonder. They grow anywhere. They are hearty and have long-lasting blooms. Ask any four-year-old to draw a flower and dollars to doughnuts they draw you a daisy. The daisy has an innocence and simplicity.  Its round yellow center smiles at us like the sun . . . and just to look at it puts a smile on our faces, too!

Can we conceive what humanity would be if it did not know the flowers? ~Maurice Maeterlinck