Denver Daisies a Dud

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Back in the optimistic days of spring:

The city with a namesake omelette now has a namesake flower.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper unveiled the "Denver Daisy" on Tuesday along with a flower-planting effort and new initiatives aimed at leading residents down a more environmentally friendly path.

Hickenlooper, during an Earth Day news conference at the Denver Botanic Gardens, said the daisy was created and named in honor of Denver's 150th anniversary. The plant is formally called Rudbeckia Denver Daisy.

He said that thanks to the sponsorship of KeyBank, 300,000 seed packets will be distributed throughout the city. Packets will be given to students in Denver elementary schools and inserted in the May issue of 5280 magazine.

The mayor said daisies planted this spring would leave the city "awash in color" during the Democratic National Convention in August, and for generations to come.

But in the dog days of summer:

It was the sort of civic idea that nobody thought would cause problems.

Last April, in honor of this city’s 150th anniversary, Mayor John Hickenlooper unveiled a newly cultivated daisy variety called the Denver daisy. He promised to distribute free seeds throughout the city and vowed that Denver would be “awash in color” by the time the Democratic National Convention hit town in August.

But much to the consternation of citizen gardeners, the Denver daisy apparently does not much like the city for which it is named.

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.”

You can read more about the Denver daisy here.