Let the sunshine in

摘要

Soon as Easter's over, thousands of us, armed with windbreak and dripping ice cream, head for the beach to soak up the early summer sunshine. If the Cape daisy had legs (and a car), she'd do exactly the same. Just as we jostle for prime position in our deckchairs, so Cape daisies (osteospermums) crouch patiently on their garden centre benches, bright-eyed and bushy-leaved, tracking the sun's arc in the sky and willing unsuspecting shoppers to pluck them from their shelf. They're so enchanting, we'llhappily forget how last year's Cape daisy flowered all the way into November then promptly kicked the bucket. I'm not quite sure what it is about Cape daises that has us so bewitched, perhaps it's their cheery presence? Whatever it is, demand for this plant has reached an all time high, inducing growers on three continents into breeding programmes so prolific that every year sees batches of ever-showier daisies filling the nursery shelves. Not bad for a plant which started life simply, in the rich and exotic floral kingdom surrounding the Cape recion of South Africa.