Many of you no doubt are worn down from atmospheric rivers, Nor’easter blizzards, bomb cyclones with “sting jets” like a scorpion’s tail descending from the sky and bomb cyclones with “sting jets” like a “scorpion’s tail descending from the sky.” I for one would appreciate an end to devastating winds and floods here in Kentucky; yet during this recent string of weather volatility have you grown weary of daffodils?
Annie and Joel LeGris of Salvisa, KY
Ten days ago I brought 97-year-old Betty Brooke McCord a bouquet of daffodils that I take every few weeks; when at her house her son Walter McCord mentioned Phillip Larkin as being someone who put an end to Wordsworth’s joyous celebration: Larkin wrote in response “Deprivation is what daffodils were for Wordsworth”. Given this stance from Larkin I can only conclude he must have been either eccentric– or pretended otherwise!
Bruce Eveslage’s invitation for what used to be known as the Daffodil Doo Dah returned on March 3, the same day that an intense yet rather underwhelming storm took its course through central Kentucky, knocking out power for many homes and uprooting thousands of trees, but we were unaffected. While we lost one large white pine and power for four days, one cannot overlook their extraordinary beauty and unflappability in spite of near hurricane-force winds sweeping over them.
Merriam-Webster defines “doodah” as an unsettling or excited state.
“Science and gardening may make for unlikely bedfellows, yet the relationship has yet to blossom to its potential,” Robin Lane Fox noted in the Financial Times Weekend edition on February 19th. However, my impression is that science and gardening have begun more of an embrace since climate change brought them closer together.
An embrace that will quickly warm the environment.
Rose, Steve Ricketts, and Rufus.
At any rate…
Each late winter, Rose and I become desperate for the triumphant return of thousands upon thousands of daffodil blooms–if not more.
As we were cutting our first bouquets of daffodils on March 1st, I was shocked when temperatures hit 80 F (27 C). That temperature felt too much like summer heat and humidity for my taste; spring is an opportunity to worship Kentucky’s natural beauty instead of having summer come early! Although spring may bring beautiful blooms of colors across Kentucky’s landscapes, winter still looms large during March.
An intense low-pressure system swept in two days later, producing violent thunderstorms, dangerous winds, flooding and several small tornadoes according to the Harrodsburg-Herald. Climate’s new abnormal imposed wind gusts approaching 70 mph on us all.
At 2.5 inches of rainfall, the ground was saturated, softening it so much that yet another white pine fell toppling onto its base – creating a huge mess in its wake.
Mac Reid, my landscape architect friend living a mile away in Salvisa has been clearing fallen trees from our property for several weeks now. As he reminded me, anything worthwhile comes with benefits and risks — trees included.
Rose and I started planting 500 daffodil bulbs together in the fall of 2011. We selected quality, affordable naturalizer varieties such as Ice Follies, Barret Browning, Delibes Fortune Salome as well as Narcissus actaea (the poet’s daffodil). With such simple maintenance required for such long-lived blooms, there are few plants more reliable in lasting generations than these!
Since planting, our daffodils have endured flood waters attempting to drown parts of them and heavy, wet snow weighing them down – yet they continue growing with cheerful indifference.
