The DemConWatch Denver Daisy Challenge

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We wrote about the NY Times story which declared that the Denver Daisy was extremely hard to grow and was basically an embarrassment for the town and Mayor Hickenlooper.

The plight of the yellow flower was raised at a city meeting this week by municipal officials who said their own efforts to grow the flower had failed miserably.

“It’s like having a cake, and you can’t light the candles,” Councilman Charlie Brown said. “I’ve been a gardener for 40 years, and all I’ve got is a bare spot.”

After a comment by Steve Jones from the Denver Marketing Office refuting the daisy's demise we've decided to try our hand at gardening.

From Wash Park to the 16th Street Mall, almost 7,000 Denver Daisies are blooming in parks throughout the city. Some residents have found the germination process difficult, but the daisy is getting a lot of bad press that is, for the most part, based on the opinion and experience of one person rather than factual data.

And he also gave us some gardening tips:

The critical thing is to keep the soil moist throughout the germination process. That doesn't mean to make it into mud or a soup. It does mean, however, that you can't let the soil go bone-dry in the 100-degree Denver heat one day and not expect it to wipe out the seed. Some gardeners I know have started the seeds in small pots and then transferred the seedlings into the ground. I'm not a gardener, but they've told me that's a normal means of growing from seed.

Over the coming weeks we will do some Mythbusting of our own. Is the Denver Daisy a Dud?
Mr. Jones is going to send us some seeds and we're going to work our magic. Stay tuned!

And in case you're wondering, the picture above is from Denver's beautiful Washington Park (Wash Park for us locals). Click on the image to see it in full size.