Yes, there are daffodils blooming now at my new home in the mountains. I think they were probably planted here many years ago for me to see when I walked this path.
—Miss Cindy 2015
The early daffodils, or jonquils as Granny calls them, are blooming in my yard. They are such a cheery sign of spring.
A few other names I’ve heard folks use for the flower are March lily, March flower, Easter lily, Easter flower, and buttercup.
I love the daffodils that I have sprinkled around my yard, but I also love the ones I see at old homeplaces as I go about my way to and fro through Brasstown and beyond in spring of the year.
In On Agate Hill Lee Smith shares a line about daffodils remembering when the people who planted them are all gone.
Miss Cindy’s old comment reminded me of the line from the book and also made me think of the people who will someday see the daffodils I’ve planted around my mountain home.
Last night’s video: Holding on to the Dialect of Appalachia – Strange Words & Phrases.
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
Miss Tipper, I love the color and flowers of spring. How lovely it is to see the beautiful azaleas blooming in all variety of colors, here in Southern Mississippi. It makes you feel like you’re viewing beautiful big bouquets in so many places. Also Miss Tipper, I wanted to tell everyone about my 3rd and last, but not least of course, Great Grandson who was born this last evening just before 5pm. 3/15/24. He joins his other 2 big brothers, 3 years and 15 months of age, now we have a handsome trio of boys. I’m looking forward to meeting him. We live far from them. My Son and Grandson & Granddaughter-in-law made sure we were included through face time and had the greatest pleasure of seeing him very shortly after his birth. Momma, daddy and Paw-Paw along with sweet baby boy are all doing fine. And he is so precious. Keep them all in your prayers please I’m so thankful everything went so smoothly. So springtime is very special this year for sure. As it will soon be for your dear family. Thank you for letting me tell how happy and grateful we all are for this precious gift. Blessings to all YouTube fans and have a wonderful weekend.
Jennifer-congratulations to you all!!
Sweet Miss. Tipper, Thank you so much. Looking forward to Katie’s sweet boy too. Jennifer
Congrats Jennifer!
Awww! Such a sweet post about daffodils. They don’t tend to do so well here where I live, but I did used to enjoy them in Birmingham, Alabama.
We call them Easter flowers. We just bought another yellow bush a d a peach tree to put out. I hope they live. I love peaches.
Tipper
Our bright yellow daffodils are blooming in our backyard. I really enjoy looking out my kitchen window and see them while I do my dishes.It is a nice welcoming sign of Spring!!
When my husband Chuck and I were dating. Every Spring, He would surprise me with a beautiful fresh bouquet of Daffodils. He no longer buys me Daffodils because now I have them in my backyard every year and I pick them myself!. Praying for Granny and all of your family. Happy Spring!! Hilary
One of my favorite flowers. They give me hope.
We also are seeing daffodils popping out down here in our neck of the woods too. We’ve heard them called buttercup’s as well as Easter Lillies too.
They are beautiful & bring
excitement that spring has arrived or at least about to.
I also think about the folks that planted them years ago as we to have those old abandoned home places around here, and the daffodils are still blooming reminding us of the life that once filled these old home places.
Praying for you all.
Beautiful !!!
Growing up, daffodils always brought hope of warmer sunnier days and the brightness of color to a drab gray season of winter – mama had them planted where ever she could find a spot. They now a bring remembrance of days and a time gone by. It is a time for pondering when one finds them growing in unlikely and unexpected places.
William Wordsworth’s lovely poem “Daffodils”–actually”I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”–came immediately to mind when I saw that photo. We memorized it in fifth or maybe sixth grade. Can’t name those teachers, but I still remember the poem, and I thank whichever one it was. Speaking of spring blooms, I saw some brilliant red azaleas this week in north Florida. I had not seen any for a while. Really beautiful!
Yes! I have them in my yard. When we lived in the mountains during my growing up years, our friends called them jonquils. such a beautiful reminder of Miss Cindy and others who came before us! ♥️
That’s one flower that lets you know spring is either on its way or already here and I agree, it’s a cheery flower. I always smile when I see them. I do wonder when I see them in fields, woods or beside a road who planted them and the house that may have stood close by. Wonder how many little bunches were carried to school for a special teacher??
Seeing jonquils at old cemeteries where there’s no markers is an amazing site to me. Decoration day at Easter!!
Norman I pray that you’re feeling better today. Blessings to all the readers!
Our weather has been…and continues to be…a roller coaster here in Northern Michigan. Shoots are just beginning to pop up their heads where the hyacinth, tulips and daffodils are planted.
Spring is this next week but for sure we will have bits more of snow! Blessings to you all.
Norman, God bless you. We are praying for you.
I wonder why, as a child and even as a young adult, I just took daffodils for granted, barely paying them any attention at all? I remember thinking they were buttercups until my husband showed me what he had always known as buttercups which was a much smaller, creeping wildflower. But now, I delight in all the daffodils I see each spring and love the variety of Narcissus- how some are bright yellow, some are much paler-almost white. Some have small, frilly centers that are differently colored from the surrounding petals, some of the center “cups” are outlined in orange or nearly pink. My mother planted the ones that still bloom here at home, as well as dozens of tulips and irises. Of the 3, daffs seem the most joyous to me at 62. Sometimes I would like to sit much younger me down and have a talk about noticing the beauty that’s all around, especially at the effort of someone who loves them (me.)
We had a day of spring thunderstorms yesterday and when the light came this morning I was thrilled to see so many more daffodils blooming all over my yard. My daughter likes to call them daffo-down-dillies which is in a lot of English stories and poems. We had a scare once when my girls were both toddlers, they “made a salad” and ate some daffodils while I wasn’t looking. They both quickly started vomiting and thankfully that took care of it. A lesson learned- they’ve never forgotten it and warm their brother every spring.
I think probably there are historic, regional plant favorites that tend to identify old home places. Like you, daffodils are the plant I think of. But further south it might be wisteria. And yucca might be the one in drier country. I am intrigued by that whole idea of an enduring plant legacy. Native Americans did the same, trading in seeds and plants. By the way, yesterday I saw a sign “Heirloom Tomatoes” painted on an out building so the practice is still alive.
Thank you, Tipper. It was good to see the words of Miss Cindy. And it is good to know that you are planting in word and deed for the future encouragement of others.
P.S. On a cool April day almost fifty years ago a little church deep in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas was filled with friends, family and a thousand cut daffodils in celebration of a wedding. In my mind’s eye I can see the happy people and the golden glow of the flowers as I walked down the aisle toward The Lumberjack. Thank you for helping me to remember the beauty of that long ago day.
Daffodils are blooming all over my neighborhood.
My father was born and raised in southern MO and always called them jonquils, but the only other people I heard call them that growing up in central eastern MO were transplants to the area (one from Germany!). In this area they are the first to bloom in the spring and are always a welcome sight.
The Daffodills are blooming I planted last year. there were none when I moved in. I will be planting more. They make me smile
Yes! I always look for patches of daffodils that mark old home places as I’m driving along country roads. Left on their own, they sometimes spread into large patches. Beautiful!
In the 60s the interstate came through our area. whenever we drive it in the springtime, I look off the road onto the hillsides and see the patches of daffodils everywhere and I think of the houses that once dotted the landscape. The people may have been displaced by the road, but the flowers keep coming up as a lovely reminder of their existence.
The daffodils have been in full bloom all around our neck of the woods in NC. Our trees are in bloom too. I sat on my back porch yesterday feeling the warmth of the beautiful sun for a short time. It was wonderful. While looking around I saw so many of the insects that pollinate. Sure sign Spring has sprung.
Daffodils are lovely and cheery and their yellow color just does something for winter eyes! In the flower business, I was told yellows and oranges sell like hotcakes because they cheer ya up! It doesn’t take a master gardener to tell me that! Lol When ya see daffodils alongside the road, you know a house once stood there and some lady must’ve loved her flowers. When we are gone, only what we did out of love and selflessness will last here and love will stand as our only testimony that we were even ever here! I see things changing and folks starting to appreciate what money cannot buy like: each other, good food, and laughter! The other day Murrman said “look at this muffler and hat my aunt got me. It’s Santa on a horse and feel how soft!” I felt and they were soft, but that wasn’t Santa on horse, it was embroidered tiny POLO match purchased from the POLO club. Btw, ain’t no POLO players here- we are more like last year’s taters! I laughed til I almost cried…Santa on a horse was RICH!
You’ve got me pondering. I’ve always thought jonquils and daffodils are two different flowers, but I’m not sure what the difference is. So now I’ll have to go a-googling and try to find out. That should postpone chores for an hour or so!
The two best signs of where the old homes used to be: daffodils and apple trees. Daffodils are my birth flower and my favorite flowers of spring, especially the big fat yellow ones.
Daffodils have been blooming for two weeks now–the small ones and the large ones. You see them everywhere. I also think about old homesteads when I see them and wonder who lived there. The forsythias are blooming along with the weeping cherry trees. There are white blossomed trees blooming in the fields. I haven’t found out what they are yet. The grass is greener and will need mowing in another week or so after they rain passes. It’s going to be 75+ degrees today. My favorite time of the year.
The flowers I know as buttercups are a Wild Daffodil (narcissus pseudonarcissus). They are also known as a trumpet daffodil. The trumpet part of the flower is a deep, Jersey cow milk, butter color while petals at the base are white or almost white.
The rest are just daffodils or, as my mother like your mother called them, jonquils.
I did look up the scientific name and other common names for the plant. I ain’t no flare person!
Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground, Ga has the most fantastic show of daffodils. Acres of them planted on hillsides. Worth a visit!
I have been blessed to visit Europe in the early spring when flowers stretch to the horizon, especially Britain which as the perfect weather for spring bulbs, wet and cool. Bulbs are everywhere! No one picks them or disturbs them. Lesser bulbs, too, such as crocus. Every corner has a flower stand where they sell copious bundles of flowering apple branches. It’s a feast for the eyes and soul regardless the direction one gazes. I think a requirement for being British is knowing how to garden . . .
After my first comment, I read the old post from Sept. 20, 2010 titled two mysteries solved, my Daddy had several of the cast iron tea kettles. I think I know where one is that has a hole in the bottom, if it is not too bad I am going to plant a flower in it. He kept one filled with water on his wood heater. Yes I always called the lid openings on the old time wood/coal heaters “eyes.”
Do you have any “sarvis” trees around your home? I think the proper name is serviceberry. They are blooming here now. My dad pointed them out to me when I was a child. He told me that he and his brother Charlie gathered the hard berries formed from the blooms and his mother made jelly from them. The family lived on Deep Creek at that time. Give my love to Granny . She is such a strong woman and I admire her very much.
Virginia-we do have sarvis trees 🙂
Miss Cindy’s comment brought a tear to my eyes…just knowing how much you all miss her. It’s almost my late son-in-laws birthday. He would have been 42. He’s been gone a little over a year now and we miss him so very much. But spring and blooming daffodils bring a renewed sense of joy and hope to our lives. They brighten the world, and let us know life is wonderful—and we all need to love God and each other—and live it to its fullest. My family has always called daffodils Easter Lillies. I was so happy to see many buds about to bloom on mine around our trees. We are in a colder climate and our Easter Lillies bloom later. I think they will be just in time for Easter this year.
I wanted to correct myself. My son- in- law has been gone a little over two years.
In my 69th year on this earth, I am humbled and so blessed to live on land that is my maternal ancestral home place. I live in a farmhouse built by my grandparents in the 1940’s on the same foundations of the house built by my great grandfather in the 1800’s. My home place has been in my family for over 150 years—I have lived here for the majority of my life. My husband and I have lived here for almost 45 years. There are daffodils and spider lilies in my yard that were planted by my grandmother when I was a small child that still bloom today. Even the centipede grass in my yard was planted by my grandparents long, long ago…in the 1950’s or before. There are also oak trees, sweet gum trees and many shrubs that my grandparents planted—and also a pecan tree that my great grandmother planted in the late 1800’s. There is also a much younger pecan tree in my yard that was planted the year that I was born—1955. My grandmother always told me that I would have children of my own before this tree would start to bear pecans. All of this means the world to me!!!
I live and have lived all of my life in the most rural/country area in Greenville County, SC. I remember the locations of many share cropper homes that are no longer standing. It is not unusual to see daffodils blooming around these old home places. When I see them them, they remind of my youth and the times when I was younger. I have a good many daffodils planted around my home.
My sister and I were just commenting a couple of days ago that we never heard anyone else call them Easter flowers (or “flahrs” in our accent!) ad we did as children growing up in western Kentucky of parents from the Ozarks. Good to hear that was no so uncommon. We also called them jonquils. They’ve been blooming here in Chapel Hill for over a month. I remember the yard being full of blooming jonquils when my Daddy passed away in Ballard Co KY 25 years ago in late February.
Looks like you pronounce flowers very similar to my “flares”. There is a added sound that my spelling doesn’t capture. I think your h might be the answer. In any case I’m adopting your spelling!! “flahrs”
My mom always had daffodils and beautiful purple flags. They are both so lovely flowers.
My grandmother, Ida May, also called them jonquils and also daffies, and she and my grandfather, James North, had huge beds of them, which I remember, and also crocus and hyacinths. Their largest beds were Irises or flags as they called them. Their spring yard, mostly yellow and purples, is etched in my memories.
My grandma is also Ida Mae, but with an e. She doesn’t like Ida and has always gone by Mae but I find the whole name lovely 🙂
Every time I see daffodils blooming somewhere in the woods or roadside I know there was once a house there. Who lived there? I would bet kids once played and grew up there…some old couple sat on a porch waiting on the hereafter…who were they????
Don, I took a trip to go trout fishing in Arkansas with a friend who assign imagined stories to people and country homes we saw along the way: “That poor old lady there probably raised a houseful of young’n’s in that big house. No tellin’ how many biscuits she’s baked in her lifftime.” It was entertaining.
lots of pain in my body, bad weather must be coming, antenna tv not working, daffodils blooming for a while, starting to fade, God bless you friends of Appalachia