Dear Mom...

These daffodils are for you.

They grow in a field near my house.  Every year they spread and are more beautiful.

I always think of you when I see them because you love daffodils.

We both know that our relationship over the years has not been what either of us would have chosen.

We both have regrets.  Deep regrets.

But we also have the future.

So, here's to the future ...

... and a closer relationship than we have had in the past.

I love you.

Happy Mother's Day!

Have a beautiful day!

A spring day...

Finally!  The Tulip Poplar trees are getting their leaves.  This is such a welcome sight!

 My chickie dudes like the spring day, too.   Here they are, back in their pen ~ for safety.  But earlier, they got to wander around the yard, scratching and pecking.  Yes, they are hens, but I still call them my dudes.

 Daffodils!  So sunny and cheerful.  I didn't realize that I had a white one.

A Muscari has seeded itself at the edge of the stone path.   Isn't that how we are sometimes?  Trying to grow in a difficult, "rocky" place?

Another brave little plant growing in the rocks.  A reseeded Johnnie.

The blooms on this Veronica are tiny, but oh, so beautiful.   I love the blueness of them.

These are Tete a Tete Daffodils that I planted in the fall.  I think they are so charming.

Have a beautiful day!

Yes, Spring is coming...

About this time of year, I start to think that Spring will never come again.  Maybe that's why there are crocus ~ to remind me that, yes, there is hope.  These yellow crocus are starting to close up for the evening.  They are growing in a tub near the lavender crocus I blogged about in the last post.

Today I found my first daffodils of the year.  These are short Tete a Tete daffodils.  So cute!  So charming!

And Muscari!!!  You know I am excited about seeing these blooms!

A lovely yellow Johnnie for you.

 Have a beautiful day!

Double daffodils...

Today was Sandal Day. I know you thought it was April Fool's Day, but actually it was Sandal Day. It was the first time I wore sandals since last fall. O.K. Now that I have that out of the way, I will tell you about one of my plants. I found these coming up two or three years ago beside the road on which I live. Because no one cares what is there, except for maybe the grass that someone mows occasionally, I didn't think anyone would want them. So I dug them up and brought them home, rather than just letting them get mowed. I think it is like the reverse of guerrilla gardening - to take plants from an area no one is tending, as opposed to planting where no one is tending. It is an act of preservation, right?




At first I thought maybe I had discovered some new cultivar and that I would become famous and would receive unlimited royalties from the new flowers and would be able to buy all the plants I wanted. But, alas, it was only a double daffodil, which was nothing new, only strange. So, I think it is a good flower for April Fool's Day.


Have a beautiful day!

Tête-à-tête daffodils update...

The Tête-à-tête daffodils that I bought a couple of weeks ago have grown tall and bloomed. Outside, under their normal growing conditions, they would only be about 6” – 12” high, but because they have been inside under fairly low light conditions (for plants) they have become rather lanky in their effort to reach the (non-existent) sunlight.




The flowers, though, are absolutely charming. They are unabashedly cheerful, the bright, sunny yellow glowing in my dining room. And they have a sweet fragrance. Aren't fragrant plants wonderful?

{Narcissus 'Tête-à-tête'}

I think the tiny shoots coming up in the pot may be new little bulblets as the plant multiplies itself. So exciting! Later, in spring, when the ground and air have (finally) warmed up, I will divide the bulbs and plant them outside.




They probably won’t bloom next year because of being forced this year, but future years should give me plenty of delightful, Lilliputian Tête-à-tête daffodils.


Have a beautiful day!

Tête-à-tête daffodils...

Sometimes I am not a very good plant mommy. O.K. Often I am not a very good plant mommy. Take, for example, the case of the Tête-à-tête daffodils. Several years ago, I saw them in bloom in a store and they were such cute little things that I had to bring them home. I figured they were a good investment because I knew they would return from year to year. I actually got them put in the ground and for a couple of years they bloomed.




Then last year, after they bloomed, I decided I was going to revamp a part of the garden bed they were in. So, I took them out along with a bunch of grape hyacinths, and lay them on the ground under the shade of the oak tree, planning to replant them once I had the other plants in place. Well…

When my sister came to visit, she asked me if they would be o.k. just left on the ground. I blithely informed her that they indeed would be o.k. there, but that I would shortly be replanting them. Ha!

Summer wore on. Fall came and covered them with leaves. Of course, the muscari just made themselves right at home. But the daffodils?




The other day, as I started to see other daffodil shoots poking up, I got curious about my poor Tête-à-tête daffodils. So I pulled back the leaves…. And what do you know! They sure are tough little guys.




I thought I should help them out a little by actually putting them in soil. I really am going to get them put back in their bed. Really. I am.




Oh, and yesterday, I saw some more Tête-à-tête daffodils in a pot in a shop. These weren’t blooming yet, but I know they will. And I know how charming they are, so, the story starts once again. (What? You wouldn’t risk putting a dirty plant on your tablecloth?)


Have a beautiful day!

Coming up...

Not too long after we moved here, I bought tulip bulbs and daffodil bulbs. I had read that the moles will eat the tulip bulbs, but not the daffodils and that if you plant tulip bulbs inside a ring of daffodils, it will deter the moles. So I tried it. I created an oblong circle of red tulips surrounded by two types of daffodils. That spring we had pretty red tulips and cheerful yellow daffodils. The next year, some tulip plants came up, but didn't bloom and the daffodils came up and did bloom. Then the next year, of course, no tulips. Not because of moles but because these tulips don't naturalize. By this time, I wasn't maintaining that area, so grass grew back over it. Every spring, the daffodils come up through the grass and every spring I tell myself that I will dig up the daffodils and put them in a true flower bed amongst my perennials. And every spring the daffodils come up yet again through the grass. Well, maybe this is the year I actually will get them dug up and put where I want them.





As pathetic as my peony bed looks, red leaf buds are starting to form. This is another set of plants that need to be dug up and spread around. I would like to have my peonies scattered among my perennials and not in just one area as they are now. There is a story behind my peonies, too, but I will share it another time.




These daffodils were on the property when we moved, just in a different location. I put them here under a buddlea last year with a sedum ground cover so there will be something interesting when the buddlea has been cut back.




Poor hyacinth. It got stepped on before I realized that it had come up. I hope it will forgive me and continue to produce a beautiful pink fragrant bloom.




You might notice the sunflower seeds among my irises. Right after it snowed several weeks ago, I threw sunflower seeds out in the snow for the birds. I guess the birds didn't find them.


Have a beautiful day!