Garden Pic Wednesday: Daisy Mum

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I have 3 things I'm sad about this week:
* The hard freeze last week burnt everything sensitive to deep cold in my flower beds and containers! Despite my trying to cover some.The problem is, it rained first, then froze hard. So much for fabric coverings.
One bell pepper plant did survive--and that's good news! Plus it's warmed back up again.

 *  My friend, Megan, whom I've been having dinner with every other Thursday for 10 years now, is moving to Lancaster, CA to work at Edwards AFB. She leaves next week. The new job option came only 10 days ago, so it's been a big rush! 

* My camera broke. Actually, the memory card slot spring broke, so it won't take a memory card anymore and it won't work without one. Repair proved unfeasible. Just no one local to do it and Nikon wants a blank check credit card number to charge whatever they see fit for repair and I'm not doing that. It'd probably cost more then I paid for the camera originally anyway--but I do need a camera professionally for my art and my blog.
So Hubby said, "Get a new one."
Well, Nikon doesn't sell this particular model anymore. (It's only 3 years old!) And I didn't like any of their new options. I like THIS camera. So I ordered another, just like it, "used--like new" from Amazon.
So, I am pretty happy about that. It will get here later in January. 

Today's Garden Pic is the happy smiling face of one of my Daisy Mums from mid-December 2016:


Chrysanthemums come in numerous shapes and types: daisy, button, pin-cushion, spider, football and many more variations in a variety of colors: white, purples, lavenders, lime greens, pinks & yellows!
Their stems absorb dye colors easily, too, which is how you get the blue, hot pink and other unnatural colors you might see in grocery bundles.
When I worked in a flower shop and people wanted arrangements with "daisies"in it, this is what we used as a florist, because each 36 inch stem had a nice cluster of multiple bloom heads & buds near the top!
It's  not the the wild white Daisy that pops up across mid-west lawns & fields on a single stem, about 6 to 10 inches tall, that's more of a weed. That kind of daisy is actually quite stinky, scent wise--if you've never sniffed one.
But, if you want nice white daisies for your garden or landscape (that aren't mums) you can get Shasta Daisies, which are cultivated form of daisy, good for naturalizing and cutting. 

And Gerbera Daisies, despite their name, are NOT related to daisies at all, but rather are members of the Sunflower family.
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So now you know a little bit about daisies.

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