Yesterday we worked in the gardens surrounding our house. The day started out cold but after dinner the sun warmed the whole area till it truly felt like spring of the year.
I’ve been watching my daffodils like a hawk for blooms. Although I’ve seen daffodils in full bloom in surrounding areas none in my end of the holler have been blooming until yesterday.
I found the first bloom! It tickled me to death. Usually when I notice the daffodils there are already several blooming. I think this is the first time I’ve ever caught the first bud to open its cheery face.
I have several varieties of daffodils. Those that are swelled with buds now will be the first flush of blooms. After that I’ll have a few here and there and then the last hurray of daffodils are the paperwhite Narcissus. I’m not sure they are technically daffodils but I think of them as though they are. They are so fragrant they perfume the whole yard! I always make an arrangement with them so that I can enjoy that lovely scent as much as possible.
A few days ago a commenter reminded me of one of my favorite quotes about daffodils.
“On we went, her red coat flitting in and out of the trees ahead of me. Sometimes she seemed not even to touch the ground. We came into the clear and struck out along a fencerow surprising the little birds that flew up all around us. We passed that pile of rocks which used to be the chimney of an old homestead, we know because daffodils pop up there every spring. Fannie said, ‘Daffodils remember when the people are all gone.’”
~Lee Smith, On Agate Hill
I just love the line: “Daffodils remember when the people are all gone.” Every spring of the year I’m reminded of it when I notice daffodils blooming by the sides of the road in deserted places as I travel to and fro. I like thinking the blooms remember the caring hands that planted them so very long ago.
Last night’s video: Granny’s 85th Birthday Party.
Tipper
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Has anyone here ever transplanted daffodils? I have a ton of them spread out allover our property in odd random spots like the bank between my house and the neighbors house and along the edge of the woods behind our house. I’d like to dig them up and replant them in one area together but don’t want to accidentally kill them. Should I wait until they lose their blooms or wait until they die down completely and dig up the bulbs? As I’m sure you can tell I certainly don’t have the green thumb and really have no clue what I’m doing lol
Cassie-I’ve moved them around at pretty much every point in their life cycle with good success 🙂 Someone with more knowledge about the perfect time to move them will hopefully share their knowledge.
From time to time I’ll be driving down the road and I’ll see an empty plot of land, sometimes with 2 or 3 concrete steps coming down to street level with daffodils on either side of them. I try to picture the family that lived there once and of the birthdays and Christmases they joyfully experienced there. Always together, healthy and happy. I think they deserve to be remembered. If I ever have time to stop at one of them some day I’ll listen closely to see if I can hear their laughter on the wind.
The house we live in now does not have a single daffodil. We bought it from the children of the lady that owned it and passed away. My wife asked one of the daughters, “With all the flowers your mother had, why are there no daffodils?” She said that her mother had them around the house and buildings in probably 50 places but for some reason when she died they all died also. We planted some and are waiting to see what will happen.
That is special you got to see that very first daffodil of the year. It is so pretty. I did not know that about the narcissus. Now that I have heard you point out about seeing blossoms and plants in out of the way places I now look for them. I planted some bulbs either in 2021 or 2022, the green stems come up but so far none of them bud, it’s just the green. I like that quote too, but it also makes me lonesome for my family who have gone on to Heaven; I miss them and those days all together so much. The good ole days! Now it’s up to us to make these good days in the memories of those coming along behind us – like your oatmeal rolls you were talking about Tipper. Your one daffodil reminds me of a lone hybiscus bloom the day of the homegoing graveside service for one of my aunts last August. It was a well-established big plant right next to my cousins house, looked like it was full of buds but that day only one beautiful light pink bloom was open kind of front and center. My SIL and I snapped a picture of it for my cousin so she could see it, I don’t know if she would have noticed it that day or not.
I had a friend in school whose surname was Dills. I don’t even remember his given name now because, of course, we had to change it to Daffy. Daffy Dills!
The bright yellow of a blooming daffodil always seems to really speak of Springs arrival and brings gladness to the heart after a long cold gray winter. Yes, there are other flowers that herald in the signs of Spring, but the sweet ole ‘daffy’ seems to call the loudest. My mama was like you Tipper and LOVED her flowers so we had an abundance of plots where everything that would thrive in our area was planted, along with the produce gardens and small fruit orchard. (I think back now and wonder how we fit into each day all that needed tended to on our homestead!) Spring began the months of heady scents from all these sources as they came into season. My favorite was the honeysuckle and lilacs, some of which were planted outside my bedroom window that brought their sweet aromas wafting in to me each night.
Well after all these years, I know now that daffodils and buttercups are two different flowers. I grew up calling them buttercups, all of my family did but after doing a little research, I found out there is definitely a difference. Just goes to show that you are never too old to learn something new, lol. I am happy for you Tipper that you found you first daffodil of the season. It’s always exciting to see them!
Loved Granny’s birthday party! I know everyone especially Granny had a wonderful time and if I remember correctly, today is Austin and Corie’s anniversary. Please wish that sweet couple a happy anniversary and I hope they have many more wonderful years together!
We have several varieties of daffodils as well. They were planted by the original owners of our house. I get excited too when I see their green stems poking through the dirt. They are mighty. They have survived many surprise Spring snowstorms. They were the first flower my daughter learned the name of and the first that she picked for me. I love them so much. Thank you for the pretty quotes. The one about daffodils remembering people when they are gone got me because the original owners passed away within recent years. I am sure they’d be glad to know that their daffodils mean so much to us.
Daffodils stand like a memorial in places where the homeowners and the home have been gone for many decades. I love driving on the narrow county roads in Kentucky and seeing the reminders of people, homes, are barns that exist only in memory now.
I may not know who lived there but I feel a connection to those who beautified their world by planting daffodil bulbs.
Daffy-dils are my favorite springtime flower, the big fat yellow ones.
Your first daffodil is absolutely beautiful. They are a favorite of mine but I don’t have any in my yard. First signs of spring are in your neck of the woods now.
I just moved to my house last April. The previous owners did not have any flowers. They just had blooming scrubs. I panicked last fall and planted several types of daffodils. It warms my heart to see them blooming now.
I love the daffodils this time of year. Unfortunately, squirrels ate the many bulbs I planted. Does anyone know of a humane way to discourage the over-population of squirrels from eating my bulbs???
I’m like you, Tipper, about thinking of the people long gone. My friend had some bloom this year at the end of February. (Southeast KY)
They are so beautiful. Hope by tomorrow your yard will burst forth with more flowers!
granny’s party reminds me so much of all the holidays we used to have in florida, when my mom’s “layer”of family were all still here at the end of the last century, usually at my aunt’s who lived to 103… one by one we lost 13 people in the 90s and, starting with my generation, we don’t get together anymore, seems like that’s become a thing of the past. only times i see any of my family now is sheltering from hurricanes!
A year ago my neighbor, Darcy, died of pancreatic cancer. Her husband planted daffodils in her memory. Today those beautiful yellow, resilient daffodils are as lovely as Darcy was. I loved Fannie’s quote -daffodils remember the people who are gone.
How beautiful! I love the quote too! Thank you for sharing your daffodils! Ours aren’t quite blooming yet ❤️
I can’t figure daffodils out. We have some that never bloom and others close by that do but sparingly. Our best patch, which always blooms, is out of sight from the kitchen window but I pick them to bring inside. They always bloom first. Then yesterday we took a walk in Don Carter State Park nearby and visited a large daffodil patch at an old home place. There is a very big white oak tree there that I estimate to be between 200-300 years old and the daffodils are under it. Some were looming on February 13th and others were then just up a few inches. Yesterday the first ones had almost quit blooming and the others were blooming their best. Why the month’s difference? They must just have different clocks. As to how long they may have been there…. there is a cemetery 800 feet away with a death date of “Oct 1865”.
good morning friends I went to the eye doctor, hopefully be getting some new glasses, the doctor says I have early stages of cataracts, I have heard at cataracts can be reversed, that this can be healed, would you let me know if you know anything about it, somebody said using castor oil on your face, near your eyes would help, and somebody else mentioned something called bilberry, thank you for answering God bless you
Norman, I can’t give you any advice on how to reverse them, I have never heard anything about being able to do it. I had cataract surgery on both eyes about 2 years ago, there was nothing to it. There was more to having a tooth filled. The only thing about the surgery was it completely reversed my vision. Before surgery I couldn’t see at a distance but had perfect closeup vision, now it is completely opposite. I would not pay the thousands of dollars out of my pocket that Medicare would not pay for lens similar to bifocal glasses. I went by Dollar Tree and bought me several pair of the $1.25 reading glasses. The worse part of the surgery was having to put a drop in my eye each day for at least thirty days. The small thumb size bottle required for each eye (2 bottles) cost $400 dollars a piece but with a manufacturer’s coupon they were $100 for each bottle.
thank you Randy for sharing with me, God bless you very much, I stuck around and waited on a response today, I’ve got some new glasses coming, and I guess I will put it off as long as I can, until it starts to blind me, thank you Randy and God bless you very much
So happy you have your first daffodil of the season. That is a lovely quote about the daffodils remembering.
I adore daffodils—of course I do—not only because my birthday is in March and the daffodil is the March flower but because they hold so many special memories for me. There was a time when a 60-ft long/10 ft wide flower bed was tended behind our house. This bed was filled with several varieties of daffodil, iris, spider lily, snowbell, gladiola and other perennial bulbs. My grandmother always tended this garden with so much determination and love!!!!! She would pour many different packets of annual seeds like marigolds, zinnias, petunia, nasturtium, phlox, celosia, coleus, four o’clocks together in a big old aluminum pot and cast them out and then work them into the soil with a small rake—Right now, in my mind’s eye, I can see her doing this!!!!! After my grandmother passed away, this garden gradually became unattended and unsightly, so I finally let the centipede grass take it over. An in ground swimming pool inside a large fenced area now occupies much of the area where this garden once grew so abundantly every year. I have future plans to install several raised beds along the back side of the fence so that I can try to recreate some of the beauty that my grandmother’s garden always bestowed upon our yard every year. There are several other areas in our side yard where my grandmother always tended day lilies, spider lilies and daffodils—a few of them still come back up every spring and remind me how much my grandmother loved her garden and how much I loved it, too!!! I also have plans to add a few more raised beds in several other areas of the yard so that the floral nostalgia of the my past can return to my present!!! And, oh yes—I just remember her beautiful dahlias that always had to be staked so that their beautiful blooms wouldn’t fall down—she had dahlias in so many different colors!!!!! I am so grateful for my wonderful memories, as well as for my desire to make a few attempts at recreating the beauty that once stood in this yard every year in the spring and summer.
Driving or walking in the woods and coming up on a big patch of daffodils definitely tells me those daffodils remember the folks and place long gone! You instinctively know there once stood an abode where the daffodils spring up showing their happy little faces! I love them and as a kid just couldn’t keep my little hands from picking them. Mommy would say after I’d give her a bunch “say, where did you get these?” I’d mostly tell a tale when I said by the woods which usually meant some poor lady’s yard edge…kids and flowers just go together for both are God’s best creations!!! No daffodils here in WV yet. I’d say you’re 2.5 to 3 weeks ahead of us here in your growing season. Sooner or later though we will get there. Have a great day and enjoy it if you can!
Tipper your first daffodil of the year is lovely! Spring is coming next week on the 20th, so by then all your lovely daffodils will be in bloom!
We have lots of daffodil greens popping up and I expect some blooms in maybe a couple weeks. We’re anxiously awaiting them! We’ve had snowdrops blooming. We planted crocuses last fall and I’m watching for them as well. Can’t wait! I also always start watching for the forsythia this time of year. I just love that explosion of yellow announcing the arrival of spring!
To me daffodils are saying it’s time to go to work
My mothers are in full bloom but my one plant has no blooms at all!
Our daffodils are up, but no blooms yet. My little patch of crocuses are blooming, the voles didn’t eat them up this past winter. I love spring and watching everything come to life! I’ve planted beets, lettuce, kohlrabi, and I’ll be planting spinach and onion seeds this week before the predicted storms hit our area. Soon it will be mushroom hunting time, so time to spend in the woods and seeing everything there coming up through the leaves.
Daffodils have been blooming around here for the last couple of weeks. I don’t know much about flowers but there I have one on my place that I look forward to seeing each year, my grandmother planted it. . She called it a peony. This flower has been here my entire lifetime of 71 years, I don’t know how much longer. It has started sprouting back up and seems to grow a couple of inches a day. I will usually have to cover it up several times each spring to protect the buds from frost. It reminds me of my grandmother and makes me think of her telling me after it bloomed out when I was a little boy “If you mess with the flowers on my peony, I will tare you up.” I have to go somewhere this morning and will be going by some old home places, I will be on the lookout for the daffodils.
I saw something on the news yesterday I thought was very funny. Apparently a 4 year old boy had been taught how to dial 911” he called 911 and wanted the police to come and arrest his mother, her crime, she had ate his ice cream! The police did come out to be sure nothing more was going on and then brought him some ice cream the next day.
I am so happy for you. We still have patches of snow and cold freezing temps for a bit longer. I am so excited for gardening this year though. There was a time that I thought we may be moving and wouldn’t have a garden.
Have a great week! God bless!!