Daffodil season will have been a bust. They burst out of the ground prematurely, and found they don't like the warm weather. Anyway, we think it's going to rain again, maybe pour.So they're doomed.
I sometimes try cutting a bunch of daffies and putting them in a water-filled vase, indoors. It never works. The daffodils want to be in the ground, and no heroic messing with their lifespan will null their death wish, indoors or out.
Why do people plant daffodils? They have such a short spectacle. Maybe it's because they come early and help ease the tortured, midwinter psyche, just with their bravura. They have a very minor aroma, a good one, but skimpy. Once the flowers have died, you are supposed to leave the leaves. A brown, drying mess that somehow helps the soil or the plant, so you don't remove them. I only have daffodils because I inherited some in two of my houses.
I will have taken care of them for 20 years, now.
You'd think I like them.
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23 comments:
You'd have to be crabby, indeed, not to like daffodils. I love their color, their earliness, their brevity, their light scent and the way the light shines through their petals. Maybe you need a tonic?
I'M TAKING UP BEACH MARCHING
My yard is awash in crocus right now, a veritable purple field! Daffodils mean spring to me (though we have rain, rain, rain and construction season up here), and daffodil cake, which no one west of the Rockies seems to ever have heard of...
Pretty flowers. Beach marching as in Australian men in Speedos?
Little Pots - Daffodil cake? I'm intrigued! Is it made with daffodils, or is it just yellow? Tell, tell!
Zoomie: You calling me crabby? We all have our tastes, and right now, mine is for a tonic.
Little Pots: Oh, crocus, I love. Lucky you.
And... What Zoomie said about the cake! I've never heard about it either, and Zoomie is from East of the Rockies.
Greg: Australians in Speedos. Spot on, and congratulations on good Google work.
Hmmm, the best I can describe it is: it's usually a layered cake of lemon sponge and vanilla cake (most times baked as layers in one tube/bundt pan). Then either lemon glaze or a buttercream frosting. I had one aunt who swore by glaze only and my mom has been faithful to her vanilla lemon buttercream for years, I guess it depends on how decadent you want the outcome. Google came by a few good recipes. A sunny dessert for a rainy time of season...
I'd be happy to watch beach marching, but marching myself? Don't think so.
Daffodil cake: pure Betty Crocker cookbook and very cheerful. Look it up!!....I have to say that in all my associations with the yellow flowers during my life (including - yes, fey -- drinking raindrops from them when I was a lttle girl) I love them because my then-husband would manage to score the very first bunches of them at flower stands in Manhattan, even when snow was still falling around us, and they were magical. Don't underestimate them.
I'm familiar with Australian beach- brief cavorting. Being a big fan of flashmobs I saw the Bondi Beach DHL rescue crew in their red and yellow briefs(now trending towards board shorts.) A few years ago Miss Avril ordered me a "fun" gift from Australian.Now I get a quarterly e-catalog from Aussiebum.More beef cake than Micky D's. Check it out!
Little pots: Thanks! It sounds so chipper and bright. It even sounds a little yummy.
Zoomie: I'm the opposite. I'd rather march than watch. It's very silly to look at. :)
Kudzu: So nice that they cheer you up!
Greg: I gather you've been to Australia. It's on my bucket list. Lucky you.
We plant them for their fleeting beauty :)
Mouse: What is wrong with me? I think daffodils are beautifully constructed, but... Just... Too... Yellow.
I don't hate them; I bring them into the house. Where I laugh at them.
Never been to Australia. Only virtually on Youtube.I spend way too much time there. What happens when the computers become self aware? ;)
Maybe dafs are, or started as, an east coast thing. Our springs here are more anxiously awaited than NoCals. They're more dramatic at the start, wiping away starker winters. And they don't end abruptly and fade into months without rain. So our dafs come up as gorgeous heralds of returning color in the landscape, and their greens hang around for quite a while and stay...green.
Kate: Yeah, I do think it's an east coast thing. Of course, I sympathize with those of you for whom the daffodil is not just a visual pleasure, it's the groundhog not seeing his shadow! Meaningful.
Anyway, so now I'm not going to leave the brown leaves. :)
I love to see a carpet of daffodils growing wild-tells me spring is almost here!
Chris: Oh, a whole carpet! That would make a difference. We only have a cluster of blooms underneath the water faucet.
Happy Leap Day!
What's not to like about daffodils? I smile whenever I see them, goofy name and all!
We have a ton of daffodils on the side of our house. A ton. You know how many flowers last year? Four.
you know how many this year? ONE. So far. Maybe we'll get lucky and reach number three.
Me and my beloved are the worst gardeners in the world, but daffodils make way too much fun of us.
Hungry Dog: Apparently I am Frankenstein. Hitler. A nonromantic vampire. Kill me now!
However, I do love the goofy, daffy name.
Bewitch: What is going on in your yard? Global warming? Voles?
Good luck. :(
What Chris said about a carpet of daffodils reminded me of "The Daffodil Principle". Just Google if interested.
Knancy: I looked it up! Super charming. Thank you. Now, I see, my patch of daffodils has expanded to fill an available space. Will this make me happy? Will I thank you? (I will.)
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