Nora Ephron’s Daisy: The Friendliest Flower on Film
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
May 19, 1941
Dearest readers,
Today, we festoon our bouquets in honor of the legendary Nora Ephron—a New York director and screenwriter whose words and wit forever changed the landscape of modern romance.
Her filmography sparkles with beloved classics like When Harry Met Sally (1989) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993), but it is in You've Got Mail (1998) that Ephron delivers what is surely the most iconic daisy scene ever written.
In this blooming moment, Kathleen Kelly gazes at a vase of daisies placed by the ever-charming Joe Fox and declares,
"| love daisies."
To which Joe gently prompts,
"You told me."
What Kathleen doesn't catch is the significance of this floral gift.
With charming subtlety, Joe is recalling their very first bookstore encounter, when Kathleen introduced Annabelle and Matthew to her handkerchief, lovingly stitched by her mother with a daisy,
"Because daisies are my favorite flower."
Lost in the cheerful faces of the blooms, Kathleen misses the meaning in Joe's gesture and remarks,
"They're so friendly. Don't you think daisies are the friendliest flower?"
Whereupon Joe, with all the patience of a gentleman gardener, agrees,
"| do."
Thus does Nora Ephron, through a single flower, a vase, and a line, show us that the true gift sometimes lies not in the blossom, but in the memory and affection nestled quietly beneath its petals. For more daisy-filled delight, revisit the scene in You've Got Mail, and perhaps you'll never look at a daisy (or a declaration of love) in quite the same way again.
