Ever Heard of Rambling Daisies?

by Joyce-Anne Locking

Although it's not the usual sort of thing you would pick up from a gardening book, this is what I have discovered. Daisies have been sorely under-rated and misunderstood for a great number of years. There are songs about roses, many songs about roses, but not nearly so many songs about daisies. One very popular song comes to mind, however. Still somewhat popular today, it has stood the test of time. That's the song that goes like this: " Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true, I'm half crazy over the likes of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage..." In this case, Daisy is the name of a girl, and the song is about a marriage proposal. Daisy, interestingly enough, is also the name of the girl in the book, The Great Gatsby. The Daisy, this time, is characterized as being somewhat frivolous and irresponsible. She looks sweet enough in the beginning, but then she shrugs off all of her true nature by the end of the story and simply walks away. See what I mean. Even girls by the name of Daisy seem to be given the role of portraying a weak or unsustaining nature.

More real to the species, when you think of it, daisies are a true symbol of love. Remember when we were children and fields of daisies were a natural part of summer. We would pick daisies and do the ritual of the marriage question from the young age of four or five. Picking off petals one by one, we quickly learned to think of the question of marriage and recite: "he loves me, he loves me not," until there were no petals left on the flower. But at the same time, we were soon taught that daisies had answers to many of life's problems.

A book I read on "how to succeed in life" suggested the following exercise. Spend five minutes each day focusing on a vase of fresh flowers. Look at nothing else in the room during this time.

You may think this exercise is frivolous or one of shrugging responsibilities, but if you try it you will likely find it anything but easy. Also, if you think of a question that is on your mind as you focus on the flowers you may see miraculous results in how the question is answered. Of course you have heard of people talking to their plants, and how this benefits plant life simply by making your plants feel they are not ignored. But on a much deeper level, plants and trees connect us to our source. There are rich benefits also available to us in this interchange of energy.

This is what I tried and found to be true. The pot of fresh pink daisy mums I set in the centre of my white-lace covered table in the living room was playing a role of centering me. Every time I walked past the table I could not help but notice these beautiful flowers. Even though I was extremely pre occupied with my own tasks, I felt the powerful message of the flowers on the table.

I decided to try the exercise of spending a mere five minutes with the daisies. I took the pot of flowers from the table and set it on the floor in front of me. For five minutes, I noticed all the centres of the multiple stems of bursting blooms. In my mind I thought of the three majors questions that were pressing for answers this week. I mentally asked the daisies for help in getting these questions satisfactorily answered. As I was piecing together this article the phone rang and the first of my questions was addressed and the results changed. Then an email arrived giving me more information regarding my second question to the daisies. Perhaps the third question will soon be given special attention later in the day or week.

It seems daisies have gifts and talents that no one knows of. Daisies don't like to be ignored. Pick one up and put it in water and just be with it for awhile. This process is known as meditation. A book I read entitled, "Centering," states: " In meditation one is required to abandon the five senses and move down into the "underworld" of the inner self. In so doing, the body relaxes and the brain slows down to the alpha level. After a suitable rest, the brain can resume its normal beta activity with renewed vigor, for body and spirit have, temporarily at least, been brought into alignment with the mind.

You've likely heard of the song, Rambling Rose, but I don't expect you've ever considered the question of rambling daisies. Now, that's something you can take to the table with you!