Let It Grow
By Tammy Thornton
If you are looking for a different kind of fall flower in addition to your mums and pansies, you may consider adding the cheery faces of daisies to your garden. Daisies in fall, you question? Yes, but these are not the wildflower daisies found growing in meadows (most likely oxeye daisies) or spring-to-summer-blooming Shasta daisies. Starting in September and lasting until frost, Montauk daisies boldly come on the scene with a little hip bump to the others as if to say, “Move over, this is my time to shine!”
Also called Nippon daisies, because they are native to the coastal regions of Japan, Montauk daisies have naturalized and thrive on the tip of Long Island (Montauk) and New Jersey. Though they are hardy perennials and do spread, they are not considered invasive. Our coastal South Jersey area provides the perfect conditions for Montauk daisies, which are salt-tolerant, drought-tolerant and will bloom best in full sun with well-drained sandy soil. They can handle a light frost, but will die back after the first hard freeze. Though Montauks will attract pollinators, they are rabbit- and deer-resistant. Montauk daisies have the white petals and yellow centers typical of daisies, but their large leaves are shiny green and leathery as opposed to the lance-like leaves of Shasta daisies.
Montauk daisies can grow up to 2-3 feet high, and certain measures should be taken to keep them from flopping over. Too much shade, water and fertilizer will hinder blooms and also cause them to be leggy. Plant them in full sun, but fertilize and water sparingly. Treat them like a shrub, and prune off the dead tops in the spring to keep them compact and sturdy, also cutting out any sections that were damaged in the winter. But don’t prune after mid-May, or you could be snipping off the potential flower buds that are forming.
In time, your Montauk daisies will fill out and need to be divided. A tell-tale sign will be when the plant spreads out and has a hollow middle. Divide in spring, preferably after the last frost and replant – now you have two plants! You can also propagate Montauk daisies with cuttings of non-blooming stems.
Cut a bouquet of Montauk daisies for yourself or a friend, which will encourage new blooms. Their fresh-cut blooms will last long in a vase of frequently changed water. You can’t help but smile when looking at their happy little faces.
We all need a cheerful distraction now and then. This quote from Anne Morrow Lindbergh, an American writer and aviator, seems to capture the joy of taking a stroll in the garden and forgetting your momentary troubles: “One can get just as much exultation in losing oneself in a little thing as in a big thing. It is nice to think how one can be recklessly lost in a daisy!” Here’s to wishing you all to be (if only temporarily) lost recklessly to the good little things in life.
Tammy Thornton lives with her husband, children, and crazy pets while enjoying a life of gardening, cooking, and going to the beach.
