PlantFiles: Ox-Eye Daisy, Field Daisy, Marguerite, Moon Daisy
Leucanthemum vulgare

Very weedy, alien plant from Eurasia. Extremely common along highways and in disturbed environments here, along with other weeds like purple loosestrife, Queen Anne's lace, and dame's rocket. Attractive flowers, but then I much prefer a coreopsis, helianthus, or rudbeckia, which are also better behaved and better for our native wildlife.

Despite it's sometimes weedy tendencies we really enjoy having this plant in our gardens. It requires very little effort and provides profuse blooms, grows very easily, isn't fussy about soil and if kept deadheaded it stays controlled fairly well. The only time I ever had more coming up then I wanted is when you pull one out or move it and the leftover roots send up new plants. However, those are easily dug out.

Not invasive here, just pretty spring flowers.

It's not the cold, so it must be grassland vs. forest. We're much wetter here. Wet enough for trees and shrubs to shade them out. (Maybe they couldn't compete with the Russian autumn olive, Tartarian honeysuckle, and multiflora rose either.)

In fact, it's becoming kinda rare. Only grows in open fields where there's minimal mowing and/or spraying. It's most happy on human-made ecotones/edges.

People pick them when they see them, too. 25 years ago it grew on a hillside by my little league softball field. Meanwhile, daisies plus girls equals: He loves me, he loves me not... So much for seed production.

Last reserves of them that I've seen in the region are around our airport and along one new highway cut from farmland. A few years of lawn care by the Dept of Transportation should eliminate the ones on the highway, too. Good thing the airport only gets to mowing occasionally, or they'd be gone for good.

I have had a lot of luck cutting the plant back after the blooms begin to fade.
It gives me a new flush of blooms shortly after.

This plant is listed on the North Dakota invasive/troublesome list and this information is being distributed in a guide developed by the ND Weed Control Association and other agencies.

Plant Features
Perennial, up to 2 feet tall
Several un-branched stems arise from root
White single flowers (1 to 2 inches wide with a yellow center) on the ends of each stem
Lower leaves longer than upper leaves, lance-shaped, edges toothed
Blooms June through August
Spreads by shallow creeping roots, (rhizomatous) and straw-colored ribbed seeds

Distribution
Documented in a few areas. Found on disturbed sites in grasslands

Interesting Facts
Escaped ornamental
Belongs to the sunflower family
Flowers smell like sage when crushed

This plant blooms profusely and early with beautiful blooms, but the foliage is the ugliest. It lays down on the ground and forms large ugly mats at the crown. I got a single plant from a neighbor last year, planted it in a sunny spot, and ended up with an entire bedful this year -- but because of the ugly foliage, I ripped it all out. I love the early-blooming attribute, and the flowers are gorgeous, but the foliage is just too ugly.

These grow like weeds here in Canada; they are certainly invasive. Even so, they have beautiful flowers, I might try to collect tubers and seeds this year!

The tender young leaves may be used in salads.

Appreciated for its lengthy early Spring bloom (Zone 8) and
pristine evergreen foliage. Although a vigorous reseeder,
unwanted seedlings are easily removed.

It's impossible not to smile when these daisies are in bloom!

Cheerful little wildflowers that seem to smile at you along the roadsides every Summer.

The foliage stays green all year round here in West KY, making a low mat of rosettes close to the ground.

The only down side to them is that they can infest hay fields and cattle dislike the taste, so won't eat the hay.

This plant grows in the uncultivated areas behind our home in northern Maine and I look forward to it every summer. The blooms seem to last for a month, and I use them as cut flowers for the house. I think the Ox-Eye Daisy is wonderful!

Sometimes mistaken for "Shasta Daisy" (Leucanthemum x superbum), this species has earlier and smaller blooms.

A wild-flower native to Northern Europe, Oxeye Daisy is one of the most familiar of all summer flowers, the large white and yellow Daisies adorning mile after mile of roadside, railway embankment and meadows. The long, unbranched stems make it a favourite ingredient in a bunch of wildflowers. It is related to the larger Shasta Daisy, originally from the Pyrenees and widely cultivated in gardens.