Thursday, November 15, 2012

Crazy Daisy

 Leucanthemum x superbum 'Crazy Daisy'
Much of gardening is about the pursuit of perfection. Gardening magazines are filled with photoshopped images of work by garden designers who wear their status anxiety on their sleeves, and plant society show benches display prize specimens grown by retired corporate/politician men who have not lost their competitive streak while refusing to accept their feather duster reality. Fortunately many breeders develop plants which remain outside that world though they often get tagged with the terms bizarre or unusual. I am immediately attracted to seed packets which use those terms and 'crazy daisy' did not disappoint. Like facial hair which likes to sprout in all the wrong places, (I have a hair in the middle of my forehead which persists while its comrades have long retreated)  this daisy produces extra petals which emerge at odd angles including from the central boss of pollen. One I noticed today had a line of petals dividing it creating a Siamese twin flower. The one pictured in the bottom photo has decided to shrink to a 'shaggy gem' large coin sized flower. Though alas I think that cultivar name has already been taken..
Grow plants from seed as you never know what will turn up.

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