MONTAUK DAISIES
I feel sorry for the Montauk daisy. It has a difficult Latin name, Nipponanthemum nipponicum, which means, literally, “the Japanese flower from Japan.” Before acquiring that mouthful of a name, it wore the slightly simpler Latin moniker, Chrysanthemum nipponicum, which means “the golden flower from Japan.” Obviously taxonomists felt that since only the center of the Montauk daisy is golden, it was better to err on the side of descriptive redundancy. Given those lengthy collections of Greek-derived Latin syllables, it isn’t surprising that people prefer the simple name “Montauk daisy.”
Latin names aside, the Montauk daisy seems to rate very little attention from breeders or ink from garden writers. American, German and Asian breeders have done amazing things with the Shasta daisy, improving on Luther Burbank’s original by doubling or tripling its petals and making it shorter, taller, or more floriferous. By contrast, the Montauk resides in lonely splendor in the marketplace, notwithstanding its garden role as one of the stars of autumn.
I think the Montauk daisy suffers from the same malady as Leopold Mozart, a talented man who is only known to history as the father of the extraordinary Wolfgang. The Montauk is most often mentioned as one of several parents of the Shasta daisy. Apparently Burbank used Montauk pollen to restore the bright white petal color that had been muted as the result of earlier daisy crosses.
The lack of notoriety is a pity for several reasons. While both the Shasta and the Montauk daisy sport the characteristic big, white, golden-centered flowers, the Montauk has much better looking leaves. They are dark green, glossy and fleshy–almost resembling those of its fall blooming garden companion, ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum. In mild climates the leaves are often evergreen, something you certainly can’t say about a Shasta.
Montauk daisies also bloom in mid to late fall, when other flowering plants–even most of the stalwart asters–are folding up their tents for the season. The cascades of large white flowers are great companions to the late-flowering garden mums and the tall sedums. Montauks bring some life to landscapes that are rapidly becoming studies in shades of green and death. At about two feet-tall, they sit nicely in small, medium or large gardens. If you have clay soil, they are happy; if you have sandy soil, they are content. People who live near the shore can attest to the fact that the Montauks don’t mind a little wind and salt spray.
The species gets its common name from an area far out on the east end of New York’s Long Island–past even the easternmost Hampton. How did this Japanese beauty get tagged with a Native American-derived place name? Most likely seeds or plants were brought back to Europe or North America by plant hunters after Japan opened to the west in the 1850’s. The pleasing ex-pat made the leap to American gardens, flourishing especially well on Long Island. Like many plants that find a congenial adopted home, the Montauk probably escaped from gardens and began showing up in untenanted places near Montauk. Somewhere along the line, the name stuck. A few sources suggest that it sounded better than an earlier common name, “Nippon daisy”. Certainly during World War II, the patriotic Long Island descriptor was probably more appealing than one associated with the wartime enemy.
Once you plant a young Montauk daisy, very little care is involved. They don’t mind drought once they are established. The plants tend to get leggy, much like their chrysanthemum relatives, so pruning them back by one third or so in May–or at least pinching back the stalks–will result in bushier plants and more flowers come October.
How do you get your hands on the little-publicized, extremely useful Montauk daisy? People who have them already are generally glad to part with unwanted offspring, so it never hurts to ask fellow gardeners. If nobody you know has one, try the single United States mail order source I was able to find: Earthly Pursuits, Inc., 2901 Kuntz Road, Windsor Mill, MD 21244; (410) 496-2523; www.earthlypursuits.net. The company continues shipping until November 15.