A Year in the Valley

A Common, or Lawn Daisy peeping up from the grass is quite a rare thing down in the watermeadow, only really occurring on the grass paths that we mow occasionally.  Bellis perennis means ‘beautiful perennial’, which is what it is.  The colloquial name ‘Daisy’ means ‘Day’s Eye’ and refers to the heliotropic nature of the flower which follows the position of the sun across the sky during the day and then closes its petals at night to open them again come daylight.  The Common Daisy is in flower from March to September and the flowers are actually a bunch of tiny flowers on a single stalk, mimicking a single flower.