Dancing by the Light of the Bloom

This morning I was drawn to my giant Shasta daisy plant that seems to grow wider year by year.  As the temperatures warm its lanky green flower stalks have been waving at me in the wind.  I anticipate the bloom which happens early one morning or late at night. Or maybe when I turn my back?  This morning an entire family of buds tease that they are full and nearly ready.  Although they look a bit alien at the moment, the mouth of an alien with many teeth.  Named after the snowy peeks of Mount Shasta in California, they are actually a flowering perennial herb and not a daisy at all.  More of a daisy look-alike.  It's in the aster family, botanically speaking.  And although asters are native to Asia and Europe, the Shasta is an American original.  My PictureThis app tells me, "They are prone to escape to the wild."  Gotta love that!  I am prone to escape to the wild, too, when I don't inhibit, censor, stop myself in mid motion.  They are disease resistant and not bothered by bugs.  The plant for me!  I am further assured that they are, "a perfect option for gardeners with brown thumbs."  No wonder they thrive under the gaze of my novice gardener wonder.  Supposedly the man who hybridized the Shasta wanted to make the whitest flower he could.  He crossed over four daisies including a Portuguese, an English, and a Japanese daisy.  A real multi-cultural plant.  His goal was to create a magical white flower that would glow under the light of the moon.  If you look out your window on the next moonlit night, that will be me that you see.  Dancing by the light of these wondrous and very white blooms!  Maybe that deer who's been smoking my pink hydrangea leaves will be dancing with me, too.