My Love for Daisy

Let's face it, the prospect of an hour boat trip followed by a two-hour tour at an overrated tourist trap of Guimaras, Philippines has never really sounded that much fun. But for weeks of planning this was the only venue available for our very short garden trip in an island across Iloilo. With cheap fares, I came to breath with the refreshing milieu in the middle of the sea and finally there was the wharf. The destination is no more than half an hour away and I have been carrying the idea that the spot has no name at all. While on the ride, there was fragrance everywhere. I opted to sniff around every backyard to find where could be the flowers that exhale it all. Well, the find is confusing, there was aplenty. Short after, walking on a drenched pathway lined with this common perennial sold at every market corners, astounded by the cherished colors they possess, they were my loved daisies. The land owner had made an entirely stirring welcome of her garden through this one. Yes, for me, those daisies.

When I was a little girl, I saw hundreds of daisy flowers chained to turn them into garlands. Unfortunately, I got none for my first graduation but the sight of it blooming around somebody's backyard had made me wonder about its tempting mystery. Mystery seems not for everybody. Of course the thought may only arouse from me for it has all of my favorite colors-White, Yellow and Pink.

Admiringly, a daisy is in fact called "The flower of the fairies" and just in time suits my fantasy. This plant had been treasured by Earth for almost 5,000 years and the old Anglo-Saxon Language first named it "daes eage" which means "day's eye". This refers to the way flowers open as the sun comes up and close when it goes down again and is thought to be a symbol of childhood innocence and joy and loyal and love - reasons why I love all part of its amusing charm.

Seeing them in the garden, again I inspected each white or off-white and can have slightly pink petals and oh they all have a cheerful yellow middle. And the worst scene I ever made was pulling the petals off one by one to see whether my lover will be true to me. "He loves me, he loves me not, and he loves me, and I stopped thinking to rather keep this pained one.

There then, an old lady with a kind smile tapped me up asking if I'd like to have a pot for only forty pesos. I nodded and said how much I love to carry three pots home. Noticing my obvious interest over her flower, she started her tale about his also loved flower plant collection. Her first daisies or Bellis perennis are propagated by division in the first days of April to have it fully-grown on rainy months because as a sign, a root would stand up to only 6 flowers when it's summer time and 14 to many from June onwards. Her daisy could grow and reach 3 to 6 inches tall and they would love to grow in sun or shade - although they don't like it too hot - so if your summers are hot and dry, plant them in the shade and water regularly. Surprisingly as she gestured a smile, she put in the picture her grandchildren picking off flower heads as they fade and it once prolonged the flowering season. In later years, when her daisies spread into large clumps, she thought that it look good when used as edging for paths or borders like to what she did to the pathway. And finally to give a more interesting detail about her little daisies to all the visitors, a piece of paper is passed and in which is a little fact about its medicinal wonder. They have been used as medicine to help with eye problems and oh to darken hair. Daisies in wine were drunk to help with mental problems, and King Henry VIII ate daisies to help with stomach problems. Huh...Another tip for a new research? Or not at all for everybody seems to have quenched a thirst knowing that it's the flower of "he loves me, he loves me not".

The trip was more. The expectation was less but entirely I was filled with real phantasm of flowers. A while ago, as always not interested with the trip but to go home with my pots of daisies, I just don't know.Someday, I would love to carry a bouquet of daisy flowers from a friendly man.

-dp