... Once You Get To Know Them
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Cornerstones is, not surprisingly, situated on a corner. We have a long curving fence from the front door round to the gravel drive at the side where we park the cars. Lathe Palace plans are underway at last - electrics, then concrete base, and finally garage plus workshop going up in September, we hope. 
uI rarely walk round the outside of that fence. If I leave by the side door I turn left across the grass to the car parked on the gravel drive - and from the front door I turn right to walk up the pavement, taking the footpath to the bus-stop, post box or medical centre. But the other day I did take a stroll round, and spotted a huge clump of flowers growing out of a crack in the pavement, right next to my fence. I picked them and put them in an enamel jug on the dining table where their colours go well with Steph's painting.
Are they weeds? I don't know - there are similar flowers in a garden alongside the footpath, and I suspect these have self seeded from these plants.
Someone told me they are ox eye daisies [also known as moon-pennies because their white heads glow in the moonlight] but another declared them to be feverfew. Alternative names for this include flirtwort and febrifuge daisy. For centuries, it was believed by some people that this consuming feverfew and its leaves could lower temperature and relieve headaches, a sort of 'mediaeval aspirin'. [Recent research questions this] In my teens I started to suffer with migraines, and an old Norfolk farmer told my mother to give me a sandwich filled with feverfew leaves. [She didn't]
Whatever they are called, these blooms have brought me joy. Bright white, rich gold and fresh green colours, not standing straight in the jug, but twisting out in all directions. I love their sunny, cheerful nonconformist attitude.
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They look like ox-eyed Daisies to me but I don't knowvwhat Feverfew looks like. My mum made me a tincture of Feverfew a few years ago for my headaches.x
ReplyDeleteIf they have a herby scent, they are probably Feverfew. They could also be Erigeron which is a dear little daisy which grows in cracks in the patio (specially mine).
ReplyDeleteThank you. I shall have to ask Bob to sniff them - my sense of smell still unpredictable!!
DeleteOx eye daisies, not feverfew!
ReplyDeleteYou perhaps need to look at the leaves. oxeye daisy seems to have long, narrow leaves with a serated edge, sort of like rocket in a salad mix. Feverfew seems to have a composite leaf, more like flat leaved parsley. (No I'm not suggesting eating either of them.)
ReplyDeleteMy husband has a handy app on his smart phone to identify plants - very useful at times.
They look like oxeye daisies to me. They grow wild in our yard and along the roadsides and are very pretty, but I noticed when I brought them in that they don't have a particularly pleasant smell! I think feverfew is a smaller plant. It is well known as a herb and is used for migraines.
ReplyDeleteThey are very pretty! I'd go with the majority opinion that they are oxeye daisies! :)
ReplyDeleteOx Eye Daisies. Feverfew has much smaller flowers and thinner leaves and will give a strong smell if the leaves are bruised. Your farmer was right about a Feverfew sandwich for headaches. Not sure it would help migraine though.
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