Daffodils

Daffodil is a funny, playful, “daffy” word. Daaaaffffooodiiiilll. I just love saying it. It is THE quintessential spring flower for me. Each spring, seeing them reminds me I want to plant more of different varieties. Hmmm...makes me wonder how many kind of daffodils there are. Let me look that up...ok...so according to The American Daffodil Society’s website www.daffodilusa.com, “Depending on which botanist you talk to, there are between 40 and 200 different daffodil species, subspecies and varieties of species and over 25,000 registered cultivars (named hybrids) divided among the thirteen divisions of the official classification system.” Seems like quite a bit to me. You’re surprised there’s an American Daffodil Society??? But why? There’s an American Azalea Society and an African Violet Society of America, so why not daffodils? Besides, daffodils are so cute and playful they deserve their own society.

One of my favorite poems has always been “Daffodils” by William Wordsworth. This poem strikes a chord with me because it reminds me of a special place I knew as a child...

“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.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed–and gazed–but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.” 

As I mentioned in my very first post, when I was a kid there was a “secret” place in the woods behind our house that had tons of daffodils blooming in the spring by a small pond. This place sticks in my memory like no other place I’ve known. I cannot help but think of it when I hear Wordsworth’s poem. 

 This year spring came early and my daffodils started blooming the end of February! Unheard of! 

Daffodils starting to open in my back yard (picture taken last week in February).

This daffodil is in my front yard (picture taken last week in February).