RECENTLY, MY SISTER-IN-LAW Rena asked me to name my favorite flower. I immediately responded, “Daisy.” But that’s not really true, I realized the more I considered the flowers I especially like.
A time existed when my response to Rena was accurate. For a long time, daisies assuredly were my personal pick for most beloved floral. Daisies, like me, are simple, uncomplicated, down-to-earth. There’s nothing pretentious about a daisy with its circle of white petals and yellow center.
Daisies, too, were the flower of my teen years. The age of flower children and peace symbols and rebellion. Daisies, prolific, strong, reseeding on their own, spreading and blanketing the landscape.
At my 1982 wedding, daisies graced bouquets and corsages. “I’ll give you a daisy a day,” wrote songwriter Jud Strunk in the 1973 hit, “Daisy a Day.” A love story in lyrics if I’ve ever heard one.
I still like daisies a lot. The way they bend in the wind. The way they remind me of my youth. And young love.
But, after pondering Rena’s question, I would answer differently. Zinnias. Yes, vivid, bold zinnias are my favorite flower today. Like daisies, they trace to my youth. Mom seeded rows of zinnias in her vegetable garden. They jolted color into the greenery, later adding color to our farmhouse in bouquets gathered.
Zinnias grow easily from seed. They are hardy and prolific and colorful, coming in varying sizes from small to “giant.” They make excellent, long-lasting cut flowers.
As I write, a bouquet of zinnias purchased at the Faribault Farmers’ Market graces a vintage chest of drawers in my living room. My friend Al grew them. His wife, Char, artistically arranged the stems of red, pink, orange and yellow with one green-tinted flower tossed in the colorful mix.
Randy bought them for me. For no reason. I love when he does that—spur of the moment gives me flowers. Just because. I was chatting with our friend Duane while Randy paid for sweetcorn purchased from Al along with those unexpected zinnias arranged in a red Solo cup. It was a moment when I felt loved, so loved, as if Randy had given me my daisy a day.
TELL ME: What’s your favorite flower and why?
© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
How lovely that Randy knew what delight you’d take from a spur of the moment, home grown bunch of your new favourite flowers. I wonder, do American children make daisy chains from the tiny daisies that grow low in lawns or pasture? As a little girl, I made matching daisy necklaces which my mum and I wore proudly on the bus into town for shopping, though hers fell off (?) quite quickly. Enjoy your vibrant bouquet.
I love your daisy chain story. What a sweet memory.
I love that story. sounds like Randy is a pretty good guy!!! My favorite lily of the valley. they grow like crazy in the spring up there and it would not grow here in Texas after multiple tries. too hot for those precious bells. they smell soooo good and i remember from my childhood too my younger brother John always bringing our mother a bouquet in a mason jar for mothers day every year. I love daisies too. pressed my wedding bouquet in a frame and after almost 50 years they still look pretty good. 🙂 thank u for the memories 🙂 lov kathyg
ps my mother loved zinnias too 🌼
Kathy, lily of the valley is certainly a lovely flower that, as you write, smells sooooo good. I love them, too. I also love that your brother gave your mom a bouquet each Mother’s Day. How precious is that?
An unexpected bouquet of flowers is a most loved feeling. ❤️💐 My husband recently surprised me with a water lily, it’s such an interesting blossom that opens and closes at dawn and dusk. I don’t know if I could pick a favorite flower… they are all so unique and gorgeous.
How wonderful that your husband also surprised you with a flower. You’re right, there are a lot of unique and gorgeous flowers.
I love a pop of pink! Growing up my mom and I had a pretty good-sized flower garden in front of the house with a wide variety of flowers. I love seeing a field of sunflowers or the flower farms on back roads adventuring through California. For my wedding I was all for the Calla Lily. I have lived in the Midwest, Out West, and now in FL so every house has had a different landscape of fauna and flora. We have limes and bananas coming in as well as starting to develop an olive grove on one side of the house. We make sure the plants are natives as well as provide shelter and food for the birds, insects, and critters that visit our yard. Your post makes me SMILE 🙂 Happy Day – Enjoy!
I would LOVE to see your yard. I’m always intrigued by all you grow in Florida.
I truly love wildflowers the best, a sweet bouquet of mixed flowers, I imagine growing in an open meadow
A bouquet of mixed flowers sounds lovely, Beth.
I just have a thing for wildflowers
I’ll go with zinnea, then wildflowers. Have a picture of Dad and Uncle Emil in the SMH Rock Garden standing proudly in long rows of zinneas, these immigrant gardeners bringing Germany to America. Backdrop of many proms. Then the tiger lillies around rock sculptures. And behind the fish pond, the wild flowers of the Straight River bluffs. The Rock Garden was started by May Bottke’s father-in-law we think before the “castle” burned in 1924. I was blessed.
That rock garden sounds beautiful. And what’s “The Castle?”
“Castle on the Rhine”, it’s still in the SSM website history about the 1883 bldg. It was a town term, not the school’s. Related to the view, bldg was wood, not stone. Yes, my bedroom window overlooked the Rock Garden. After looking at my notes, Bill started it after 1924 school fire, by the 1930s, when more German emigrant workers were needed for the 1925 bldg than the “castle” 1883. Their love for gardening was put to work! Our house, that still stands, was built 1900. It, 10 car garages and the Rock Garden, became Mackall Hall faculty housing in 1962
You are an incredible resource for Shattuck history. Thanks, as always, for sharing.
Sweet Randy! Daisies are and continue to be my favorite. From wedding flowers to current bouquets—- always the center on my attention.
That’s right. You love daisies as much as me. I still love them. But perhaps zinnias even more.