Plants are always a wonderful addition to any home or garden. They lighten up the place, and provide a more natural ambiance and aesthetic. With so many plants to choose from, it’s easy to see why most people have gotten into the habit of choosing their own planting niche to start out with. One good example of a plant that most people love to have is the daisy. Getting daises to grow to a proper size and shape requires knowledge of necessary skills such as how to prune daisies.
Daisies are flowers that commonly have white petals, and a bright yellow center. These two different parts of the daisy flower actually are two different blooms. Daisies are usually used to symbolize the idea of innocence and childhood, and make up of about almost one-tenth of the entire flowering plant population on earth. They are very interesting flowers plants that any beginner might want to try out.
Your daisy plant can still grow without the help of pruning it, so one may wonder how exactly does pruning help? Before we answer that question, we must first discuss what is pruning. Pruning is the practice of trimming off some branches, leaves, roots, and stems to increase the yield of the plant or to control its growth. How does cutting off some parts of the plant, help the plant? Wouldn’t it just harm the plant instead? In a way, yes it does harm the plant, but it is for the greater good of the plant in the end.
Pruning the plant involves cutting off some sickly or dead leaves, branches, and roots as these can cause diseases that can spread all over the plant, but this is not the only thing that pruning can do. Pruning can also involve trimming the healthy parts as well! In some cases, healthy parts but unnecessary parts are trimmed to further encourage the growth of the plant. By cutting off some healthy parts, the energy resources of the plant are diverted to more important areas such as fruits or flowers. These perks of pruning can likewise be applied to your daisy flower if they are done properly.
Pruning will encourage your daisy to stay healthy and bloom much more beautifully! But for you to do this successfully, you need to learn to prune your daisy.
Types of daisies
Flowers often grow into many types of plants, so much to the point that finding a plant that best suits your needs is now easier than ever. Plants have their own common types of varieties, and they also have rarer, less visible types. Choosing the type of plant that you want to have really also depends on the plants that are available near you. Sometimes, the choices that we are limited to are only because where we are located in the world.
For daisies, there is more than just one type of plant, which means people can choose from numerous types of daisies. There are common daisy plants and rare daisies, all with their own unique characteristics. The most popular type of daisy is the common daisy named the English Daisy. Scientifically, this daisy type is called the bellis perennis. The origins of the name of this type of daisy can be traced back to the fact that this flower is known to be beautiful and appealing to the eye. Because this daisy was particularly pretty, they gave it the scientific name that it has today. It goes without saying that because this type is attractive to the eye, it is definitely one of the more common daisies that you see everyday.
This common type of daisy is known for the colors yellow and white. These are the flowers you usually see when someone refers to it as a daisy. The petals of the flower are separate by small spaces, while the middle is covered with a yellow bloom. These daisies can grow up 10cm in height, with stems that emerge from the base holding even more than just one stem.
Another type of daisy is the Gerbera daisy, which is also considered to be a popular type of daisy because of its beautiful pink and red color combination, and thin, sharp flower petals. It grows bigger than the English daisy, and has flowers that are around 3 to 4 inches each in size. This type of daisy is usually used for ornamental purposes, because of its beautiful design and adaptability to different types of styles. They can also be good to use for occasions such as weddings and parties, wherein flower arrangements are required. Because they have a good color combination, using them along with other flowers in a flower arrangement can prove to be one of the more common uses of this type of daisy.
How to cut daisies for a vase
For those who are interested in owning their own daisies in their home, putting them in vases or smaller containers and inside the home can be a good option. Maintaining the flower indoors is a different experience as compared to when they are grown outdoors, especially since the light, humidity, and other factors are something that must be considered. For daisies, learning how to cut daises for a vase can be a good place to start when you want to get into the activity of learning how to own your very own daisy plant. Proper care and maintenance is always required.
When cutting a daisy to make it fit into your vase, you have to start out by holding the ends of the stems of each daisy flower, and then cutting the ends towards the base at a 45 degree angle. The length of the flower should be such that its tips can still reach the water inside the vase, so as to prolong the life of the daisy flowers indoors.
How to prune gerbera daisies
For those looking to get into the more complicated matter and more advanced techniques, such as how to prune gerbera daisies, this section is for you. For gerbera daisies, they are often known to have the colors of yellow, red and pink. The flowers that grow on this type of daisy are large, leafless stalks. But how to prune gerbera daisies? The answer to that begins by taking a large pair of scissors or sheers that are sharp enough to cut the leaves and stems, and then cutting the leaves 1/8 inch from the base of the plant that rejoins the plant’s stems. Next, once this step has been done, follow through by cutting off all the flowers of the plant that have withered and died. This is done so that the daisy will not waste some energy resources in converting the flowers into seeds which then focuses on development resulting in more beautiful blooms when the next blooming season comes.
During its growth phase, you must cut off some dead or sick foliage. You may recognize the sick and the dead ones by watching out for their color and texture. Dead foliage is black and brittle while the sick ones are color yellow. You may cut off these parts with shears or simply pluck them. Note that when the leaves turn yellow, they rarely recover so it’s best to simply cut them off immediately.
You may notice some small flower buds in your bed of daisies, and they are small about ¼ inch in size located beneath some blooming daisies. Make sure that you don’t prune off these buds when you are pruning unless of course, you don’t mind waiting for a month before another flower blooms again.
Repeat the pruning process every 2-3 weeks. Daisies grow back within 14-20 days after being pruned. They are fast growers and will quickly overwhelm your garden if not taken care of and pruned regularly.
Conclusion
Daisies are some of the most common flowering plants that are used today, especially since they symbolize common themes in life, such as innocence and childhood. They come in different colors and sizes, but the most common of them is one that comes in the colors of white and yellow. Learning how to prune daisies is important for anyone who wants to start owning these flowers inside or outside their home.
Daisies can grow to small or larger heights, depending on the type of daisy you choose. Pruning daisies means that you have to make sure that parts that are dead, withered or diseased are removed from the plant, so as to allow the healthier parts of the daisy plant to grow. Looking out for the daisy plant is a commitment that you need to make in order to make sure that the flower grows into the beautiful plant that daisy plants are known to be.
Now that you have learned how to prune a daisy flower, do you have any questions? If so, comment below! We also offer other guides as well such as How To Prune Dahlias and How to Prune Avocado Tree
