Did You Know? How the Daisy Got its Name

Daisies are synonymous with cheer and for good reason. They were originally called "day's eye" because the yellow center resembled the sun. As with most names, over time day's eye became simply daisy. 

There are no shortage of daisies either. There is the Common Daisy, a common European species which is considered the quintessential daisy and then a whole host of other plants that are also called daisy. What gives?

Blue-eyed Daisy

Actually the name daisy can be applied to any flower in the asteraceae family which is more commonly called the aster, daisy or sunflower family. It includes many of the plants we commonly plant in the garden such as marigolds, zinnias and calendula among many others. The name aster means star so often in the garden biz, daisy has come to mean any star shaped flower with a solid eye. Most times the eye is yellow but can be blue as in osteospermum or blue-eyed daises or black as in black-eyed Susan's.