A front-yard daffodil tells us spring is not too far way. -- Photo by Pat Bean
“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That Floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the Breeze.”
— William Wordsworth.
I saw my first daffodils for the year yesterday. Five golden blooms had popped themselves up beneath a juniper tree.
“Quick. Take a picture. Before the deer eat them,” said my daughter-in-law, Cindi. “And then e-mail it to D.C.” The daffodils were still there this morning, however. The deer were evidently satisfied with the corn she put out for them. Like me, she worries about the neighborhood deer because development in this once rural area is destroying all their habitat.
D.C. is my son, the one who never wants a thermostat to drop beneath 78, but who is currently in Afghanistan, at a place where a frigid winter is still very much in charge of the landscape. While a picture of a daffodil might not warm his body, hopefully it will warm his spirit.
A field of daffodils in Cornwall, England -- Photo by Mark Robinson
Daffodils do that to people. It’s as if the energy that pushes up daffodils – sometimes through several inches of snow – is transferred from the golden petals to the human soul.
Camden, Arkansas, where my youngest daughter lives, hosts an annual Daffodil Festival, with this year’s event scheduled March 11-12. You might want to catch it if you’re anywhere nearby. If not, perhaps you can attend one of these other daffodil events:
Annual Daffodil Parade, Puyallup, Washington, April 9
Meriden, Connecticutt, Daffodil Festival April 30-May 1
Gloucester, Virginia, Daffodil Festival, March 26-27
Junction, Oregon, Daffodil Drive Festival, March 12-13
Nantuckett Island, Massachusetts, Daffodil Festival Weekend April 29-May 1
Fremont, North Carolina, Daffodil Festival, March 26
I could continue on for a while, but you get the idea. I’m not the only one who thinks daffodils are worthy of notice.
Have you seen your first one this year yet?
Pat Bean's blog 
Not me! It’s icy and snowy here today. But I love them – I call them jonquils because it sounds so romantic, and I often buy forced bulbs for my Easter table, then plant them in the garden. I’ll have them all over in a month or so, as a few years we planting hundreds of bulbs. Tulips, too.
They’re also called narcissus, in honor of the Greek youth who thought so much of himself that he stared at his reflection in the water so long that he fell in and drowned, or variations of the myth. Supposedly the plant sprang from the site of his death. Thanks for commenting Dani.
Keep writing … Pat Bean https://patbean.wordpress.com
If my daffs are there they’re under eight inches fo snow! But it’s always such fun when the snow melts and the early flowers are already pushing through ground. Can’t wait! Thanks for brightening the day with the lovely photo.
Jinni
Funny you should post this about the daffodils since I just spotted them beginning to come up. Your flower pictures are nice. We still have about 30 degrees with chance of more snow before long.
We only have the greenery pushing up through the ground, but we have snowdrops and crocus blooming. We usually have snow and frost and freezes AFTER that happens, but it’s too late, Mr. Winter–We know spring is here! 🙂
My husband brought a bunch of daffodils home last night. Nothing says spring like the cheer of yellow daffodils! Mine are up and I’m looking forward to the day when they burst forth in bloom!
In the mountains near here, in April we will see the Jonquill ( I think thats how its spelt) similar to daffodils in the high meadows. Famillies spend the day with a picnic and pick the flowers to decorate their home and celebrate the coming spring.
Jim