March Gift Flower: Daffodil

Miniature daffodils "Tete a Tete" were a gift from an east coast friend last fall.

Miniature daffodils "Tete a Tete" were a gift from an east coast friend last fall.

March Gift Flower: Daffodil

March gift flowers have to be either borrowed from someone who grows them or given as bulbs the fall before. That's how I received mine last year, two bags in a small box from a friend I had not heard from in some time. We had worked together a few years back and enjoyed comparing notes about our gardens.

His was a more formal design, with clipped topiary Boxwoods, old Weeping Willows and lovely Drooping Cherries - I used to tell him his garden sounded a little sad based on his description.

By comparison, my hillside garden is a combination of native redbuds and compact fruit trees sprinkled with anything that blooms. No grass to mow, ponds, lots of birdhouses, bird baths and bees. And frogs, lots of frogs. 

Frogs, he would say. 

One of my spring peepers makes a cameo appearance on a deck shepherd's hook.

One of my spring peepers makes a cameo appearance on a deck shepherd's hook.

Spring peepers, I would say, nodding. Little frogs with a big sound, they make a lot of noise on the first warm spring-like day, everyone knows just when that is. It's special.

We would go on with our business, no more garden talk until later, when we would be sharing a meal or waiting for something to start. The conversation would inevitably come back around to these little frogs and what they did.

Well, I would say, giving it due consideration. I find them swimming in the water in my empty flower pots. They sit under plants. They suction cup themselves to my windows. 

And peep?

They peep. Usually in spring, when the daffodils are blooming.

I didn't say it was scintillating conversation, now, did I. 

So when I opened the box of miniature daffodils, I knew exactly why he sent them. They were for the spring peepers, tiny flowers for the frogs.

Happy garden, happy frogs!

Charlotte

 

 

March Gift Flower: Daffodils

A bouquet of daffodils from my garden usher in the season of new beginnings, spring.

A bouquet of daffodils from my garden usher in the season of new beginnings, spring.

Give the Gift of Spring

When I think of what marks the four seasons, daffodils are the ambassadors for spring. The long-nosed flowers are the first to bloom in my garden, the early ones smaller than the mid-season flowering bulbs but special in my heart for ushering in the season of new beginning.

How to Incorporate Other Flowers with Cut Daffodils

If you want to include other cut flowers in with daffodils, allow daffodils to sit in water all by themselves for a good day or so. Daffodil sap has calcium oxalate crystals, an irritant, so let the sap work its way out or it will kill the other flowers.

Include Daffodils Still in Bud Form

I personally like a handful of daffodils in a vase all by themselves, either all the same or a nice variety. Include a few still in bud form, they will continue to open once picked and placed in water.

A bouquet of freshly-picked daffodils should last about a week if placed away from heat sources.

Charlotte