The Early Daffodils

The early season daffodils are in full bloom this weekend. None are more vigorous than the "Tete-a-tete" narcissus lining the front of the Mudroom Flowerbed. 

In July of 2011, I dug up one fat clump of "Tete-a-tete" bulbs in this very bed. I then sorted out the Muscari bulbs from the "Tete-a-tete" bulbs. I replanted the whole bunch, dividing the "Tete-a-tete" into two separate patches.

Flash forward five years and now those two clumps are overflowing and the poor Muscari are buried once again. Looks like its time to do some more digging and dividing this upcoming Summer.

In the front flowerbed, the "Jet Fire" daffodils have just opened.  They come back reliably each year.

When the blooms are new, the orange trumpets are at their most distinct shade of orange. Over time, the orange fades and become harder to differentiate from the yellow petals.

Such a nice display.

I am most excited this year to see this nice little group of "Snipe" narcissus. Last year I dug up this variety from its old home, underneath the creeping succulent plants. There were 4 bulbs at that time. I accidentally stabbed one in half with my trowel. That left three bulbs to plant in the new spot. Two came up last spring and only one bloomed. This year, two of the bulbs have expanded. One has 2 blooms the other has 3. The third bulb has also sent up some foliage this year, so there is still hope that it will gain strength and bloom next year.

I love their long, yellow trumpets and thin white petals that reflex back toward the stem. So much drama on such a petite bulb.

Glowing in the afternoon sunshine.

In the not-so-good news department, my "Topolino" narcissus have only produced two blooms this year. As you can see there is a mass of healthy, green foliage. I am hoping it was our extreme weather this December that caused it, and not a issue with the heath of the bulbs. Perhaps, right when the plant was ready to send up the flowering stalks, our frezzing rain and snow arrived. I still might dig up this group this Summer. It wouldn't hurt to amend the soil and replant the bulbs once again. Until then, I will enjoy my two little blooms!

The First Sunny 60 Degree Day

Of coarse it had to be on a weekday, but it was still so appreciated. The first 60+ degree day of the year! We actually hit 61 today and boy was the sunny day welcome. It was hard to believe that only 4 days earlier I was driving to work in the snow. Winter will not let go of its grip on us this year but today was at least a taste of Spring and the days to come - we hope!

Snowy Sunday Morning - Again!

I awoke this morning around 7:30 AM and glanced out the window. Snow! Just as the forecast had predicted, it had started snowing overnight and was still at it. We had about an inch of accumulation  in all, before it stopped around 9:30 AM. Just enough snow to turn the world white once again this Winter. And now they are calling for more snow to fall tonight as well as forecasting more snow next Sunday! The groundhog was right and clearly Mother Nature is not done with this Winter weather business quite yet.

In Like A Lamb

"Tete-a-tete" narcissus in the mudroom flowerbed

March arrived today, coming in like a lamb. We had partially sunny skies and it hit a high of 53 degrees. Looking at the 10 day forecast, I think this lamb-like spell is to be short lived. Snow is being predict for the upcoming weekend and the temperatures are dropping. So we will enjoy today's tease, knowing we still have 20 more days of Winter left on the calendar.

Here Come the Daffoldils

While walking all over our property this past weekend, I was surprised and excited to see that the main season daffodils have started to surface. I first discovered the group pictured above, two big areas planted with "Passionale". Then, as I hiked up the road, I found variety after variety had emerged. Amazingly, just two weeks ago, when I took this same walk, there wasn't any sign of them. I was especially pleased to see so many of the varieties, that we planted months too late last Winter, up and looking good. It is still early, but it looks like we might have a strong daffodil showing this Spring.

Flowerbed Clean-up

I spent a good deal of this weekend working in the Mudroom Flowerbed. It was time to give it the annual spring cleaning. I unloaded tote after tote of dead branches and old foliage. Slowly but surely I worked through the whole bed, leaving the enormous "La Trinidad Pink" salvia until last.

Our two patches of "Tete-a-tete"  narcissus are off to a good start. I was happy to observe that this past December's cold weather hasn't excessively browned the leaf tips. Before we know it, this clump will be a sea of blinding yellow trumpets.

As usual, I was pleasantly surprised by how many perennials are already showing signs of new growth. Here is Black-eyed Susan "Henry Eilers". I guess if you are going to reach 5 feet in height, you had better start growing early in the new year.

A healthy clump of agastache "Acapulco Orange", already sending up lots of new growth.

I also spend a few hours today completely cleaning up the Sunset Flowerbed. While this bed is much larger than the Mudroom Bed, it is less densely planted. While it still involved a lot of careful work, it was a much easier weeding job than the Mudroom Bed was.

Here is the lobelia "Fan Scarlet", just beginning this year's new growth. This poor plant got absolutely smothered under a Penstemon last year and never stood a chance at reaching full size, let alone blooming. We are going to move it once Spring weather arrives, so it has its own space and the right conditions to perform.

Here is my sweet little clump of "Sabrosa" narcissus. I dumped some extra soil over the clump before our freezing weather hit. I think that really helped to protect the young green shoots.

I am also excited to see some of the "Toto" narcissus that we planted last year coming back. They were among the group of bulbs that didn't get planted until mid-Winter 2016. They seem to be coming up in good numbers this year and I am anxious to finally see them in bloom.

Early Sensation Daffodils

In a normal year, I try to make it down to the big bird feeder and check on the "Early Sensation" daffodils sometime between Christmas and New Years. But this year, with all of the ice and snow storms, the daffodils were the last thing on my mind. Now that the snow has melted, and life has returned to normal once again, I suddenly remembered I hadn't yet checked on this early season daffodil. Not surprisingly, when I walked down to the area where they grow, I found that they were not only up, but were a good 6" high! I was please to find only one small branch lying on this group, as well as a bunch of small fir tree tips. I quickly cleaned up the storm debris and straightened up the few bent leaves. Depending on the weather we see in the next few weeks, I expect this group will be in full bloom by mid-February at the latest. Spring is on the way!

Signs of Life

After 8 days, the snow and ice are finally receding from the South and West facing flowerbeds. About 1/2 of the Sunset flowerbed has bare soil once again. The rest is still coasted in varying thickness of icy snow. I did discover that some of my "Kokopelli" narcissus have broken free from the icy grip. Resilient shoot of green speak to a promise of warmer days.

Merel's Favorite Daffodil

Back on March 5th, we planted 25 bulbs of the daffodil "Merel's Favorite". These bulbs had been sitting in a box in the garage since last October, so they were more than ready to be planted.

The good news is, the bulbs were still firm and viable when we planted them. And now, since they went in so late, we have a pretty display of daffodils in late April!

I think the color combination of white petals with yellow trumpets is my very favorite, so I am really loving this variety. "Merel's Favorite"  has rounded, pure-white petals and a very vibrant, long, yellow trumpet.

Not quite all of the bulbs produced flowers this year, which isn't a surprise considering the stress we put them through. Still, from 25 planted bulbs we have 29 blooms to enjoy. Here's hoping they settle in and come back even stronger next year.

Late Season Daffodils

As the calendar marches along, so does the daffodil season. We are now enjoying what I call our Late Season daffodils. These varieties are the last to open for us each year. While it's wonderful to be able to enjoy these blooms it is also bittersweet because once they are done, we are finished with daffodils for another year.

Down by the road, we have two amazing clumps of "Passionale" daffodils.

These pure white daffodils have a soft peach trumpet.

They have come back reliably year after year.

On the other side of our gate is this group of "Roulette" daffoldils.

This white daff's trumpet is yellow, with the outside ringed in orange.

One of my favorite daffodils is "Holland Sensation". We have planted it twice over the years, and both times it hasn't done well for us. This clump is down to 2 blooms this year. I do love its soft, almost frosted yellow trumpet.

Over in the meadow we have two patches of "Golden Ducet" daffodils. Both groups return reliably each year. It is certainly unique, with its crazy, cut up petals and trumpet.

When we first stared planting daffodils, we planted two clumps each of "Fortune" and "Fortissimo" in the meadow. Over the years each variety has diminished before completely dying out. But to our surprise this year, we had 5 "Fortune" and 2 "Fortissimo" return this year.

The 2 "Fortissimo" are spread out about 10 feet from each other now. Either one came back from each of the two clumps we planted, or a underground rodent did some bulb moving!

Up on the bank we have a nice patch of "Serola" daffodils. These were planted many years ago. While they all didn't naturalize, enough did that we have a cheery group here each Spring.

"Serola" isn't a quiet daffodil! It has bright, lemon yellow petals with short, vibrant-orange trumpets.

I don't think any daffodil that we have planted has done as well as the drifts of "Flower Record" up on the bank. Even the group planted around the base of the ginkgo tree, which gets watered heavily all Summer, returns with vigor year after year.

Unfortunately, with all of the warm weather we have had this past week, the "Flower Records" are already fading. I don't think they have been blooming for more then a week.

Closer to the shop we have a small clump of "Decoy" daffodils.

This pretty variety has white petals and a salmon-pink trumpet.

Back in the flowerbeds, we have a small group of "Thalia" daffodils. These Victorian beauties have a sweet fragrance and each stem has multiple white blooms.

In the corner of the front flowerbed is my clump of "Jamestown" daffodils. I brought these bulbs back from my trip to Maine in 2012 and they have returned reliably ever since. They have a unique bloom. The petals are quite rounded and the yellow trumpet is very shallow,ruffled, and flat.