Category Archives: My Homeplace

It seems like the welcoming daffodils of spring came early and stayed late this year. I have at least six varieties of daffodils that I photographed. But I missed a few of the earliest blooms.

Some are known for early bloom and others known as late season bloomers. Several are fragrant. Daffodils have a very mild, gentle sent.

↑Daffodils in the front yards, circle garden, iris bed outside circle garden

↓Thalia Nodding pure white flowers, usually 2 per stem, with narrow petals and a delicate cup. Thalia is excellent for massing at the edge of woods or in a shrub border.

There are usually two blooms per stem. So I think I’m getting more of a show per bulb. Photo PBH

↑Thalia is nearly 100 years old. It has proved to be an excellent perennializer. The bright white flowers are tough to photograph. Those brillant double blooms always seem to be overexposed. It combines very nicely with with other dafs.

Daffodils are naturalizing. Naturalization also means Take Over The World. But that is OK, it’s a short bloom time.

The above flowers are the standard issue big yellow daffodil. Probably Dutch Master of Marieke. There wer lots of them here when moved in and I’ve purchased  quiet a few. Because you can never have too many daffodils.

↑Dutch Master Dutch Master is the most widely grown of the yellow trumpets. Like King Alfred before it, it has become the standard early yellow daffodil. In fact, many suppliers still list King Alfred, but they almost always ship Dutch Master.

↑Marieke Here is a golden yellow daffodil that is sure to replace many older varieties. Its large flowers are beautifully proportioned, graceful despite their size, nicely scented and very long lasting. The name is pronounced mar-EE-keh.

↑Ice Follies Very large, silvery white flowers with a wide lemon-yellow cup that turns white as the flowers mature. Ice Follies is one of the strongest-growiing daffodils ever and  great for naturalizing, North and South.

Butter and Eggs Daffodil Photo PBH

↑Butter and Eggs Authentic Southern heirloom – hardy north to zone 5 – that’s been a folk favorite and passalong plant for centuries. Its yellow petals are interspersed with shorter ones of gold to almost orange, and even snooty William Robinson in The English Flower Garden praised it, as “handsome and abundant.”

The last daffodil blooms of the season are Actaea. Photo: PBH

Actaea Sweetly scented, snow-white flowers with scalloped petals and a small flat eye of yellow, edged bright red. Actaea is one of the last daffodils to flower and one of the best for naturalizing. It has brightened spring landscapes for almost a century. As the daffodil show slowsdown, the tulips, wild tulips, grape hyacinth and a number of early spring bulbs take center stage.

I didn’t plant as many tulips as usual because the dafs a quickly naturalizing those garden spaces. But the Iris are just starting to bloom. The first ones up, are the old fashioned purple iris.

Oh, yes, the Lilac are just beginning to bloom. As you can see, my favorite flower is what ever is blooming and my favorite season is what ever is next.