Whether you’re gazing out over a field of wild daisies or looking at a Gerbera daisy bouquet, it’s hard not to smile. These cheerful flowers light up rooms with their bright centers and adorable, delicate petals. Plus they have more to offer than just their looks! Not only are daisies beautiful, but they also bring interesting meaning and symbolism.
Starting thousands of years ago and continuing until today, daisies have represented innocence, cheerfulness, and purity. With that said, the exact meaning of daisies depends on cultural traditions as well as the daisy color. We’re going to cover all the ins and outs of the meaning behind daisies so you can fall even more in love with these cheerful flowers.
What Do Daisies Represent?
Even just looking at a daisy can fill you with a simple, positive vibe. They seem so happy with their sun-like center surrounded by delicate white petals – it almost looks a bit like a bright sun beaming through a cloud. Of course, there are other types and colors of daisies. However, many daisy meanings refer to the white and yellow colors of the common daisy and oxeye daisy.
While the meaning of a daisy will depend on cultural traditions and flower color, there is some generic symbolism. Here are just a few of the ideas that daisies represent.
Purity
With soft white petals, daisies represent purity. Furthermore, daisies often bring up the image of children picking wildflower bouquets in an open field. Today, daisies are tossed by wedding flower girls to symbolize love’s purity.
Childbirth
Along with symbolizing innocence, daisies also symbolize childbirth. They’re commonly given to new parents as a way to welcome their children into the world.
New Beginnings
Daisies are a great reminder that we all need a fresh start every once in a while. If you have a friend that is graduating, moving, or going through another big life change, send a bouquet of daisies their way. The cheerful flowers will remind them to keep a good attitude as they head into something new.
Cheerfulness
Whether you’re picking white and yellow oxeye daisies or pink Gerbera daisies, these delicate flowers will make you smile. Giving someone a bouquet of daisies is a good way to brighten their day.
What Does a Daisy Flower Represent?
Depending on where you are in the world or what mythology takes your fancy, the daisy can mean several things. For example, there are many different origin stories as to how the daisy came into existence in the first place.
Roman Mythology
For the Romans, the daisy’s meaning was associated with Belides, a nymph who was being over-zealously pursued by Vertumnus, the god of seasons and gardens. Since Belides was so non-confrontational, she didn’t want to push Vertumnus away. Still, she needed to get away from his sleazy attention.
So what did she do? She turned herself into a daisy! While she was still beautiful, she no longer had to worry about being chased by Vertumnus. The story relates to the daisy’s beautiful and innocent nature.
Norse Mythology
For the Vikings, it was the love goddess Freya who gave the daisy meaning. Since the daisy was Freya’s favorite flower, it took its meaning from her. The daisy symbolized motherhood and childbirth and through that was associated with love, sensuality, and fertility.
Celtic Mythology
Daisies also held a special meaning in Celtic mythology, although this one was a bit bittersweet. Legend has it that when a child died, the Gods sprinkled daisies onto the Earth to cheer up the grieving parents. While no flower could replace such a significant loss, the flowers brought small smiles to the parents’ faces.
Christianity
The daisy was long associated with the Virgin Mary in the Christian tradition. This is because of its meanings of innocence, chastity, and humility.
Old English
Our modern name for the flower actually comes from its Old English name, “day’s eye,” which became shortened down to what we know it as today. It was called this due to its resemblance to an eye, as it closed for nighttime and opened up again in the morning. This phenomenon also created the saying “fresh as a daisy” for someone who feels bright and ready to go in the morning.
Daisy Meaning by Color
While daisies are generally tied to cheerfulness, purity, and innocence, the meaning does vary depending on color. That’s right, there’s more than yellow and white daisies!
White Daisies
As you might have guessed, white daisies symbolize innocence and purity. They’re often used in newborn bouquets as well as wedding bouquets.
Red Daisies
Like many other flowers, red daisies are tied to passion and love. While roses are seen as the classic romantic flower, red gerbera daisies are another way to show your feelings for a partner or crush.
Yellow Daisies
Is there anything more cheerful than a yellow daisy? These bright flowers are signs of pure friendship and cheerfulness. If you’re looking to brighten up a friend’s day, yellow daisies are a great choice.
Pink Daisies
While pink daisies also represent love, they are typically a sign of childlike or platonic love rather than deep, passionate love. These pink flowers are also a symbol of joy and positivity.
Orange Daisies
Flame orange daisies represent warmth, joy, and friendship. They’re a great choice to send to a friend for a birthday or just because.
The Wisdom of the Daisy
If you’ve ever said “he loves me, he loves me not” while plucking daisy petals, you know of this flower’s wisdom…or should we say one of the most popular flower superstitions. While the daisy is often used to determine if a crush returns your love, it has also been used to fill us in on other love-related mysteries.
Back in the day, people often used daisies to determine the details of love and marriage. By stripping away petals while naming choices, people could determine if marriage would happen this year, next year, sometime, or never. Women also used daisies to determine if their future spouse would be a “rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, merchant, tailor, banker, or chief.”
While plucking petals is a rather well-known practice, daisies have other ways of predicting the future. One legend says that the unmarried should head to a grass field sprinkled with daisies, close their eyes, and grab a handful of stems. The number of daisies in their hand represents the number of years before they’re married.
Daisy Fun Facts
If you can’t get enough of daisies, check out these fun facts. Put them in your pocket, and pull them out when you’re trying to impress someone. And check out chrysanthemum meaning and amaryllis meaning for bonus points.
The daisy is the April birth month flower. Those born in April are said to be cheerful, positive, and trustworthy. For more info on how flowers can tell you about your personality, check out flowers for zodiac signs.
Daisies are members of the aster family. This means they’re related to sunflowers, dandelions, artichokes, chicories, and more! All of these flowers have the classic shape of a round center surrounded by petals.
While it’s easy to spot daisies growing in abandoned fields and gardens, these flowers are not native to North America. Daisies originated in Europe and Asia and were later introduced to other parts of the world. Today, you can find them growing on every continent except Antarctica.
Daisy petals fold up at night and open in the morning. While many flowers open and close with changes in light, daisies are some of the first flowers to open each morning.
All daisies are made up of two types of flowers: ray flowers and disc flowers. The disc flowers are small flowers that make up the center of the daisy while the ray flowers are what we think of as petals.
Gerbera Daisies and Their Meanings
When it comes to cut flowers, gerbera daisies deserve their own special recognition. Unlike the white and yellow daisies we often refer to, gerbera daisies come in a wide variety of colors. Believe it or not, they are available in every color except for blue!
They also last quite well in the vase, making them a popular choice of florists and flower lovers alike. Fresh gerbera daisies can last up to two weeks in a vase.
The meanings of gerberas are often similar to the ones generally associated with other types of daisies, i.e., innocence, humility, and purity. However, the color of the flower also plays a role in the specific meaning. That means you can craft a personalized meaning by creating a multi-colored bouquet.
Order Daisy Bouquets Today
Now that you’ve fallen even more in love with daisies, it’s time to order some for you and your loved ones! Whether you’re looking to order a bouquet of daisies or another type of arrangement, The Bouqs Co. can help. We source our flowers from sustainable farms, which means long-lasting flowers you can feel good about sending to your loved ones.
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