A Daffodil Story

A personal story here:
My daughter’s birthday is at the end of March.  We have lived on this same property for over 30 years and always had fresh daffodils for her birthday.
In 1994, Daddy brought a bouquet of daffodils from our property to our daughter, when he flew into another state to see her on her birthday.
The last few years the daffodils have been blooming earlier than usual.
Now, I do understand that 30 years in the spectrum of time is quite small, even the Mississippi River has changed course in the last 30 years.
We have had milder winters these last few years, I wonder that global warming is a reality.
Today is February 21, we have had 2 or 3 daffodils bloom on our 55 acres already.
This is how I note the sunniest spots at this time of year.
There are hundreds of daffodils planted on our land.  They naturalize so well, I keep dividing and replanting on any sunny spot I can find.
Closer to the house, near a main flowerbed, here is the progress of daffodils.
Just beginning to open their petals.

I took this photo when the sun peeked through the clouds for a bit today.
No rain is in the forecast this next week.  When sunny days are predicted, we often have foggy mornings.  Depending on the amount of sun, all the daffodils may bloom this week.

I see daffodils blooming along the interstate freeway (6 miles to the west), and in the nearby towns to the south.  We live in the hills north of town where I have observed our flowers bloom 10 – 14 days later .

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Late Winter Blooms

We’ve had rain and cold with very few hours of sun here and there.
This weather is making hyacinths slow to fully open, also the daffodils.
On the other hand, it is truly violets favorite weather, as they are thriving.

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Pale lavender windflowers, anemone blanda, growing at the base of a rose bush.
These flowers spread easily, and compliment the purple violets.

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Spinach planted last summer is now flowering.
The flowers look prettier than the leaves tasted.
I will try a spring or fall planting next try, the summer planting was strong tasting!

Very South Germany

We drove into Germany from Switzerland and found a field of tulips.

People stopped their car to pick a few blooms.
There were indications that the flowers had been for sale,
but no more, as these were past their prime.
Nevertheless it was still a beautiful sight.

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Next day we visited Rhein Falls between Germany and Switzerland.
A short walk upstream is a bridge to the other side of the river.
There is lots to see, and the waterfalls were really cool.
Here are some beautiful May flowers we saw near the castle on the Swiss side.

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Our last morning in Germany, I found Botanical Gardens in the university town of Frieburg.  Unable to read German, it was not until we were leaving that I learned I could not visit the greenhouses inside, because it was a holiday.

But there was much to see outside, including giant potted plants that would not live outdoors year-round.

 

There were a number of ponds of waterlilies – exquisite!

 

The azaleas were about finished blooming, and not photogenic,
but the peonies were still at their prime.

The Bees are back in town …

Nothing like a warm, sunny day in February to make everything think it is spring.

There were a few bees who braved the still chilly air to satisfy their inner needs.

Alpine Flowers in Switzerland

Early May last year we drove from Lake Como, Italy to Tashe, Switzerland.
As the crow flies, these areas were so close on a map,
but of course the roads did not go that way.  Tashe is the town you can drive to,
then one takes a train to Zermatt at the base of the Matterhorn.

The first flowers I saw to photograph were in a cemetery!

It was quite beautiful to see that people cared about those who had passed away.

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Later in the afternoon, we took a hike on the mountain above the town of Zermatt,
and saw fields of wild crocus.
* * * * *

The next day we drove up an alpine valley, saw many wondrous waterfalls and
some other wildflowers whose name I did not know.

The early flower gets .. rained on

Why would only two crocus bulbs flower and all the other ones wait over a week to bloom?
This is not even the sunniest location.

After some days of rain, the sun has encouraged more crocus to break their dormancy, and greet the winter sun.
* * * * *
A week later, after days of rain, the sun re-emerged.
These same crocuses (croci?  I saw this plural someplace, did not make it up myself!) put out more blossoms.

A few more bulbs bloomed

And more are on the way