HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - TODAY AM SHARING A MARGUERITE DAISY

 As you can see. it has a tiny visitor, a hoverfly I'm thinking. I remember how much I enjoyed taking photos of these flowers, such a pretty bloom.

It is the Marguerite Daisy

This pretty yellow flower (scientific name Argyranthemum frutescens), belongs to the Asteraceae (daisy/sunflower) family. White is the most common native color, but because of selective propagation, you can now find them in vibrant yellow, pink and burgundy.

It originally came from the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago which is roughly 60 miles (100 kilometers) off the northwest coast of Africa. They belong to Spain despite the fact that they are over 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) away from the Spanish Mainland. They sit directly opposite the border between Morocco and Western Sahara and are just north of the Tropic of Cancer. 

In my youth, long before I met my dear other half, my first job out of school was working at a travel agents and I often dealt with the paperwork of people who had booked their holidays there. I wanted to go myself one day. But I'm getting off track, back to this delightful Marguerite Daisy.

Because of its Mediterranean heritage, it thrives in coastal locations and can tolerate sea winds very well. It is described as an evergreen shrub or tender perennial. In cooler climes that experience hard winter freezes, it is widely grown as a seasonal annual.

The Marguerite Daisy is a pollinator magnet and its center is packed with hundreds of tiny individual disc florets that do an amazing job of attracting butterflies, bees and other helpful pollinators, like our hoverfly.

That's all about the Marguerite Daisy today, with my little detour to the Canary Islands. My curiosity always gets me off track and yes, here I go again because my memories have started flowing. 

I have always loved geography, which is why I thought it would be a great idea to get a job with a travel agency. I had grand ideas of taking a holiday or two. Except that they didn't pay diddly-squat and I eventually left to find a higher-paying job, so that I could save up and go on a couple of vacations with my friends.

 A conundrum to be sure, but at least I was able to save up more easily, go out with those friends to the local disco occasionally, buy myself a dress or two, and pay room and board. 

Anyhow, from a glamorous sounding travel agency job (it wasn't), to one in a legal office with the local government. Kind of boring to someone my age - even though I was grateful I hasten to add, and I was able to join my friends on a couple of those winter skiing holidays. We all had to save up the whole year to do that even then, but we got there. I also had a couple of other jobs later, being given good advice by my friends to look for a rise in pay when something became available, but I'll leave those 'exciting adventures' for another day (that was a bit of tongue in cheek, they weren't exciting).

I'll end this before I take you on yet another memory bender.

What a pretty daisy that was! 

My attention span seems to be that of a gnat these days.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

HOVERFLY ON TICKSEED

I was interested in the insect on this pretty yellow flower.  At first, I thought it was a bee but as I looked closer, its markings seemed to be different, and I then thought of the hoverfly.  Later I confirmed it. They have been described as a bee/wasp lookalike.  The adults are nectar and pollen feeders, and after bees, are the most important insect pollinators. 

Other facts: you can tell the difference between bees and hoverflies.  Bees have four wings and hoverflies have only two wings.  Hoverflies also don't have a stinger.  Good to know!  Some greenhouses breed hoverflies for use in pollinating peppers, or to help plants produce seeds for seed banks.  Hoverflies also love to feed on aphids.  They are found worldwide.  There are about 6,000 of its species throughout the world, and 900 are in North America.  Hoverflies are found on every continent except Antarctica.  

The flowers I found them on are the Tall tickseed, a species of Calliopsis.  Also known as Tickseed, Tall coreopsis and Atlantic coreopsis.  Its botanical name is Coreopsis tripteris.  It blooms in the summer and is a perennial herb.  Tickseed can be a tall plant and reaches up to 7 to 9 feet.  It spreads aggressively and likes a warm and dry climate but can tolerate occasional wet weather.  It grows best between 50 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit.  To attract birds you need to let the flowers go to seed as birds love them.