What Is the Daisy Flower, and Which Ones Last in Dubai?

The daisy flower in an Amicis arrangement is almost always a gerbera, which is a different plant from the small lawn daisy most people picture. More than sixty arrangements on the site name gerbera in their description, so the flower does a great deal of work across our catalogue, and it brings one problem with it: a stem that folds at the neck.

Cream and white gerbera suit a formal room or a quiet occasion, yellow and orange belong on a birthday or a thank you, and pink is the colour to reach for when the arrangement is meant to be the thing people notice.

Are gerbera daisies and true daisies the same flower?

They share a family and almost nothing else. NC State Extension's plant toolbox places Gerbera jamesonii in Asteraceae, the aster family, records it as native to south-eastern Africa, and gives Transvaal daisy, Barberton daisy and African daisy among its common names. The same toolbox gives Bellis perennis, which it lists under both English daisy and true daisy, as a European plant three to six inches tall with flowers up to two inches across.

A gerbera head reaches four inches on its own, in NC State's description, built as a ring of ray flowers around a darker centre of disc flowers. The gerbera is grown to be cut and sold by the stem; the true daisy is a lawn plant.

Amoré / 03 shows the flower plainly. Six fuchsia gerbera heads open flat with dark centres around three tightly packed purple chrysanthemum balls, with mauve-pink roses to the right, pink carnations at the base, three red anthuriums facing away, and a loose fan of delphinium behind. Four sizes are priced at 600, 850, 1,200 and 1,800 dirhams.

How to tell a gerbera from a true daisy

• The disc at the centre of a gerbera runs from yellowish through light bronze to black, in Clemson's description.
• Each gerbera stem is leafless and carries one bloom at the top, which NC State records as a solitary inflorescence.
• The gerbera plant stands 12 to 18 inches tall on NC State's figures, against three to six for the true daisy.
• Both sit in Asteraceae, which also holds the sunflower and the marigold, according to Clemson's Home and Garden Information Center.

What colours does a gerbera daisy come in?

Clemson's Home and Garden Information Center records gerbera in white, yellow, pink, orange, red, lavender and salmon, plus bicolours. Blue is not on that list, so a blue gerbera has been tinted. Because the head is a flat ring of ray flowers rather than a layered cup, one stem carries a single block of colour.

Ember Sonata is the orange entry. Orange gerbera sit against green cymbidium orchids and blue hydrangea, with lotus pods and hand-tinted accents carrying the texture, in four sizes at 500, 650, 800 and 1,000 dirhams. For white, Deco Dazzle sets white gerbera with sunflowers, green cymbidium orchids, hydrangea and allium at the same four prices, and in yellow Golden Amethyst pairs yellow spider gerbera with deep purple calla lilies at 350 or 550 dirhams. The only blue we hold is tinted, in Baby Boy Charm at 2,500 dirhams.

Choosing a gerbera colour

• Cream and white keep the arrangement quiet, which is the register a formal room asks for.
• Yellow and orange are the strongest notes in the range, and start at 350 dirhams in the hand-tied bouquets.
• Pink runs from blush through to fuchsia, so the same flower can read soft or loud.

Why do gerbera stems bend at the neck?

This is the complaint that follows the flower everywhere, and it has been measured. Researchers at Wageningen University, publishing in Postharvest Biology and Technology in 2012, found that cut gerbera lose water from the stem faster than they take it up, with the loss greatest 10 to 15 centimetres below the head, which is where the bend appears. They also found the upper stem lacks the sclerenchyma cylinder that stiffens the lower stem, and that neither stem growth nor the widening hollow cavity correlated with bending.

Enclosing the stems in a thin polypropylene sleeve cut that water loss and pushed bending from day seven to day fourteen. Read plainly, the flower is leaky rather than thirsty, and the part that fails is the part with the least supporting tissue.

Carmine is built on fuchsia hydrangea and gerbera, with lilac and rose chrysanthemum pompons filling between them, one protea set slightly off centre, cymbidium orchids arching to the right and pale eremurus spires lifting the back. Its page calls the hollow stem the price of that flat open face, and says the gerbera will want attention before anything else in the box. Four sizes are priced at 700, 1,100, 1,580 and 2,400 dirhams.

What actually helps a bending gerbera

• The American Floral Endowment, reporting University of Florida research, says to unpack gerbera at once, cut the stems and stand them in a hydration solution made up fresh.
• The same report says to support the stems while they hydrate, keeping the ends clear of the container's base.
• It also says not to store cut gerbera, and never in boxes.
• Susceptibility varied by variety in that work, and some varieties recovered well after bending.

How long does a daisy flower last in a Dubai apartment?

Illinois Extension puts gerbera alongside roses among the delicate flowers that keep for under a week in a vase, and carnations and mums among those that reach two weeks. Clemson calls gerbera blooms long-lasting cut flowers, which holds against a garden daisy and not against a chrysanthemum. Under a week is the honest expectation for the gerbera, while sturdier stems around it carry on.

Illinois Extension's instruction is a bright but cool spot, away from direct sun and from heat sources, and the same service says elsewhere that slowing the metabolism of cut flowers is what prolongs a bouquet's vase life. In a Dubai flat that means inside the air conditioning rather than beside a window, and not directly under a vent.

Seraphina arrives already set in a textured ceramic vase in cream, so nothing has to be rebuilt on the way in. Peach anthuriums hold the centre, blush hydrangea gives the volume, pink spiky gerbera thread through for movement, and mixed green foliage supplies the structure, at 1,750 dirhams. Its page notes the anthurium is valued for how long it lasts once cut, so expect the gerbera to go over first and the piece to keep its shape afterwards.

Keeping gerbera upright in a Dubai flat

• Refresh the water every two or three days, or sooner once it clouds, on Illinois Extension's instruction.
• Cut the stems under water so no air bubble enters them, which is the same service's rule.
• Strip any leaf that would sit below the waterline, since submerged foliage decays and feeds bacteria.
• Wash the vase in hot soapy water before the flowers go into it.
• Keep the arrangement away from ripening fruit, which gives off ethylene.

Which Amicis arrangements are built around gerbera?

Gerbera runs across the catalogue rather than sitting in one collection. Around a third of the pieces in our best sellers collection name it in their description, and a similar share of the birthday collection does too. The pieces below are the ones where gerbera carries the arrangement rather than filling it.

Spring Blossoms puts yellow gerbera and orange tulips against glossy red anthuriums, with blush roses softening the middle and tall blue delphinium lifting the top, and chrysanthemum, protea and trailing amaranthus filling the gaps, at 800 dirhams in one size. For a larger pink piece, The Majesté carries several tones of pink gerbera through its body with fuchsia hydrangea anchoring the left, at 1,500 or 2,500 dirhams, and Salver 01 sets gerbera in cream and yellow in a shallow tray with a cream garden rose and sage-green viburnum at 1,700 dirhams.

The entry point is a hand-tied bouquet: Sunset Whimsy gathers orange gerbera with blush disbud chrysanthemums, pink carnations, lisianthus and green hydrangea at 350 or 550 dirhams.

Where gerbera works best as a gift

• A congratulations or a birthday, where the colour is meant to be seen from the doorway.
• An office or a reception desk, where the arrangement has to work without close attention.
• A new baby boy, where Baby Boy Charm opens seven tinted blue gerbera against sky-blue hydrangea and delphinium.

When is a gerbera daisy the wrong choice?

Two situations. The first is a formal table or a boardroom, where a flat saturated colour competes with the room rather than settling into it. The second is condolence, where a flower our own product pages describe as cheerful sits in the wrong register. The cream and white forms behave differently from the bright ones.

Amoré / 13 is where that limit breaks down. Cream spider gerbera sit with ivory roses, white hydrangea and slender gladiolus, finished with dried botanical accents, and its page positions the arrangement to carry between celebration and condolence. Four sizes are priced at 500, 750, 1,000 and 1,500 dirhams. For a white vase piece, Dewdrop Garden holds white gerbera beneath cascading white phalaenopsis orchids with green hydrangea and sculptural anthuriums at 2,500 dirhams.

Where to choose something other than gerbera

• Condolence and sympathy, where a quieter all-white arrangement is the safer choice.
• A formal dinner table, where cream and ivory settle better than a saturated colour.
• An arrangement that has to hold for two weeks, since Illinois Extension puts gerbera under one.

What do you write on the card that goes with the gerbera?

Every product page carries a field marked Write a love letter, and the message you type there is printed and sent with the flowers. Put the recipient's name at the top and your own name in full at the end, since the card is usually read out loud in front of other people.

A printed card can be added to the same order at 25 dirhams. Birthday wishes is a quiet peach and lilac tiled pattern with the greeting spread over four lines in deep navy, Congratulations! is a checkerboard in orange and cream with bubble lettering and sticker-style graphics over it, and You're the Best is the bold, colourful option its page suggests for birthdays and thank-you gifts. The rest sit in the notecards collection.

How much does a gerbera arrangement cost in Dubai?

Arrangements in the best sellers collection start at 350 dirhams, and so do those in the birthday collection. The pieces in this guide run from 350 up to 2,500 dirhams. Most designs come in four sizes, and the table gathers the sizes and prices of every piece named above.

If you want gerbera in a colour or a shape none of these holds, describe it on the Bespoke page and our designers build the piece around your brief, with sizes priced at 800, 1,000, 1,700 and 2,500 dirhams.

When does a gerbera arrangement arrive in Dubai and the UAE?

You choose the delivery date, the time slot and the area on the product page itself. The table shows the latest order time for same-day delivery in each emirate.

If the gift has to land at a particular hour, choose the slot that ends before it.

Frequently asked questions about the daisy flower and gerbera

Is a gerbera related to the sunflower?

All three sit in the same family. Clemson's Home and Garden Information Center puts gerbera in the aster family alongside the sunflower and the marigold, and NC State Extension places the English daisy, Bellis perennis, in Asteraceae as well. Deco Dazzle actually sets white gerbera and sunflowers in one arrangement, from 500 dirhams.

What do daisies mean?

Iowa State University Extension's list of flower meanings gives the daisy as "Innocence, loyal love, I'll never tell, purity", and the same page says it draws on several sources and that a flower can hold more than one meaning. Our own product pages read the gerbera more simply, as cheerfulness and warmth.

Is there a blue daisy flower?

Not in a gerbera. Blue is not on Clemson's list of gerbera colours, so a blue gerbera head has been dyed, and Baby Boy Charm is the only tinted blue piece we hold, at 2,500 dirhams. Other daisies in the same family are genuinely blue: NC State Extension lists Felicia amelloides under both Blue Daisy and Blue Marguerite, with sky-blue rays around a yellow centre, although it is a South African garden plant rather than a cut flower.

How deep should the water be for a gerbera?

Moderate, and not deep. Our own product pages put it in those words, because a gerbera stem that stands too deep will rot, and the American Floral Endowment report advises supporting the stems so the ends stay clear of the container's base. Illinois Extension's general advice is a vase filled near the top, which suits roses and hydrangea, and is where gerbera differs.

Why is my gerbera drooping, and can it be saved?

The head folds because the stem has lost more water than it has taken up, in the Wageningen findings. Once it folds, there is no published remedy: the American Floral Endowment's advice covers handling before the bend, and the University of Florida screening behind it found that susceptibility, and how well a stem recovers, depend on the variety.

Which flower in a gerbera arrangement lasts the longest?

Usually the chrysanthemum. Illinois Extension gives carnations and mums two weeks in the vase, and the Amoré / 03 page says its three chrysanthemum balls hold well beyond that while the softer stems fade, so the piece keeps its structure after the gerbera finishes.

Do gerbera have a scent?

Almost none, as the Golden Amethyst page notes. That makes gerbera a sensible choice for a hospital room, a desk, or anyone who finds lilies too strong.

Which gerbera arrangement is the least expensive?

The hand-tied bouquets at 350 dirhams: Golden Amethyst in yellow and Sunset Whimsy in orange. The smallest box designs start at 500 dirhams, with Ember Sonata, Deco Dazzle and Amoré / 13.

Can I get a gerbera arrangement delivered the same day in Dubai?

Yes. Order by 4:30pm for the 10am to 6pm window, or by 9pm for the 4pm to 11pm window. Sharjah and Ajman close at 2:30pm and 8:30pm, Abu Dhabi at 4pm and 7:30pm, and the far emirates at 4pm.

What does delivery cost outside Dubai?

Dubai is free, Sharjah is 50 dirhams, and Ajman, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Al Ain are 100 dirhams. You pick the area on the product page, so the fee is added before checkout.

Can I choose the gerbera colour in an arrangement?

Not on a standard design, where size is the only choice on the page. For a particular colour, describe it on the Bespoke page and the arrangement is built to that brief, with sizes from 800 dirhams.

Further reading

• Types of flowers you can send in Dubai
• Sunflowers in Dubai and the bouquets built on them
• How to make flowers last longer in Dubai's climate
• Flower meaning and symbolism as a gifting guide
• Birthday flower delivery in Dubai and the bouquet ideas that work