#0074 "Daisy Bouquet"

This is a group of roadside daisies near Bayswater, Nova Scotia during fog season in June 1978. This bouquet caught my eye when I stopped to look for the scene that would become #0076 "Tranquil Shore".

To some daisies are like dandelions. In fact the oxeye daisy is not a native wildflower in British Columbia and thus an invasive specie. There are at least 200 varieties of daisies. Even if the daisies are eaten as many as 40% of the seeds consumed by cattle remain viable after passing through the digestive tract. Further tests have shown that 82% of buried seeds remained viable after six years and one percent were still viable after 39 years. With resiliency like this the daisy which originated in Europe and introduced to North America in the 1800s is here to stay. It might be best to look at daisies like dandelions as flowers. In fact most if not all weeds are just flowers growing where people might not want them. ,

This is one of my Brother Jim's favourite paintings. He says it makes him feel happy in the morning. Art can do that kind of thing.