"Little Yellow Daisies"

Family: Asteraceae/Compositae (Daisy family)
Genus: Anthemis
Species: tinctoria

As Master Gardeners, we often play “Name That Plant.” We’re asked by the public how to grow and care for that “tall tree with the pink blossoms” or the “bushy shrub that comes up to my knees and has lots of pretty purple thingies” or those “short plants that grow in the shade and have teensy white flowers.” We’re always ready to say, “Please bring in a sample, sealed in a plastic bag,” because we learn in our training that identifying a plant properly, according to its botanical name, is key to its care and to effective and sensible pest management.

We’re asked often about “little yellow daisies.” This isn’t really surprising, because the Asteraceae family (often called Compositae) is the largest in the plant kingdom. There are more than 1,100 genera and 21,000 species and they’re found all over the world. Just about everyone knows what a daisy looks like and uses that name to describe different plants. On a stroll through any of our neighborhoods, without batting an eye, we could probably spot fifteen or so genera, as many species, and even more varieties.

One plant we’re likely to see blooming in summer is Anthemis tinctoria. We might know it by its common name, golden Marguerite. A. tinctoria is an herbaceous perennial tagged by Linnaeus so its botanical name has been with us for quite a long time. The species is native to the Mediterranean region and like most plants originating there, it’s tough. Golden Marguerite tolerates poor soil and drought—in fact it prefers very dry summers—and isn’t bothered by many pests or diseases. It’s hardy in our climate, so if it dies in the winter it’s most likely due to poor drainage rather than low temperatures. No Anthemis will tolerate wet feet.

The look of the A. tinctoria species is thought by some to be coarse and untamed. They consider the yellow to be a tad on the garish side, although few quibble with the foliage. It’s tidy and a pretty gray-green with slightly fuzzy, white undersides. The leaves are finely cut and feathery, with those “little yellow daisies” rising 12 to 18 inches on single stems that have a tendency to flop over in a very casual way. If your garden is formal, this may not be the plant for you. One tip, if you do choose the species: being too generous with water and fertilizer actually encourages the flopping. The plant simply outgrows its ability to support itself. Hold off on all that care, give yourself the gift of time, and leave it to your golden Marguerite to keep itself neat. Help it along by cutting it back severely in mid-summer and late fall, and dividing it every three years or so when its center dies out.

That “garish” yellow flower color found in the species has been used for centuries as a dye. Other than that, A. tinctoria doesn’t have many culinary uses or medicinal attributes, even though another of its common names is golden chamomile. Because it is so tough, however, and its flowers so perky, the plant breeders have done wonders with it. They’ve developed cultivars, named varieties of A. tinctoria that suit home gardeners in our area who are looking for attractive, drought-tolerant plants that will thrive through hot summers and flower almost continuously. Generally, the varieties are more compact (though sometimes taller than the species) and the flower color is toned down considerably. Take a look at A. tinctoria ‘E.C. Buxton’, ‘Susanna Mitchell’, or ‘Sauce Hollandaise’ and you’ll see what I mean.

Anthemis tinctoria tolerates soil that tends to the alkaline, so it’s a perfect choice for parking strips or other hard-to-water places in full sun that we all tend to neglect but want to keep good-looking without too much effort. Close up or from a distance, chances are good that a named variety of these “little yellow daisies” will brighten your garden for most of the summer and well into fall.