The 'Painted Daisy' seen here is part of the ASTERACEAE family. Arguably the largest family of plants on earth it makes up nearly ten percent of all known flowering plants and includes everything from Daisies to Sunflowers and Chrysanthemums.....even Lettuce! . The name "daisy' itself comes from 'day's eye' and refers to the fact that most Daisies open their petals in the morning when the sun comes up and close them at night when the sun goes down.

The Daisy portion of this family includes flowers in a wide assortment of colors and shapes....many a far stretch from the classic white Daisy we all know. The 'Painted Daisy' (TANACETUM coccineum) is a strikingly beautiful member. It produces masses of very showy 3" flowers w/ a large central golden disk (outlined in white), elegantly contrasted w/ red, purple or pink petals. They rise 2-2.5' above a strongly aromatic foliage mound of soft, finely divided fern-like bright green leaves which remains attractive even after blossoming is completed.

A Daisy is actually two flowers in one. The ray florets are the colorful petal-like flowers that occupy the peripheral portion (pink in this image) w/ the cluster of tiny disc petals that form the 'eye' being the other. In the image here they are yellow and it was these hundreds of tiny bright yellow florets I was concentrating on photographing. Definitely one of the most striking flowers in my mid-summer gardens..... I do really appreciate it's simple beauty.