Pretty in Pink

July 2, 2025July 2, 202529 Comments

Lately pink has become popular in home decor as an accent color, because it’s supposed to be calming, but it’s too trendy for me in the house. While I may admire pink kitchen cupboards in a decorating magazine I don’t want to live with them for years. Recently a house went up for sale in my neighbourhood with the original pink bathtub, sink, and toilet from the 1960’s and a younger person I know thought it was cool as all that retro stuff is back in. It was listed by the original owner, a man in his early nineties, who’d obviously never spend any money on it. It had the original wallpaper too – you could have filmed a remake of the Brady Bunch there.

But if do find pink to be cheerful outside. My garden is predominately shades of pink, which give a splash of color everywhere you look, with a bit of purple and blue. A wise gardener once told me that for maximum impact go for a single dominant color, although a variety of colors seems to more popular. I planted some of those too, with zinnias and gladioli this year.

My garden has been neglected for the past four years, but it’s starting to look in better shape now, and I actually bought some hanging baskets this year, which haven’t done too badly considering the strange weather we’ve had so far. So join me while we visit the pinks in my yard.

I bought these vibrant pink geranium baskets for the back yard, as I enjoy looking out my kitchen window in the morning and seeing this bright pop of color.

But I bought these mixed ones for the front, as I liked the idea of the two-tone color with the brighter centre and hoped it would go better with the roses, which it didn’t really, but it’s still a riot of color.

Impatiens are back in style, and seem to be more disease resistant now. I had mine in early so they’ve already spread out quite a bit. They like shade so they’re along the fence where my neighbours cedar hedge hangs overhead.

I bought these dianthus for the first time, as they looked so nice and they reminded me of carnations. The pink watering can has sun-faded over the years.

These pink peonies are my favourites.

I never bring them indoors though, even if they look nice as a centrepiece, as the ants like them too!

Mosaic turtle hanging out with the peonies.

I don’t like these peonies as they’re too pale – sometimes the nursery tags can be deceiving, but they’re in and they flower, so there they will stay.

A tree peony in my neighbourhood flowers in May – I tried to find one but they were out of pink and cost $60, and I’d already spent too much replacing nine of my pink Knock-Out rose bushes.

I had twenty of these at one time, but when they reach the end of their life-span of 10-12 years they get either spindly or woody in the centre. I planted gladioli behind them along the house as an experiment for some August color.

I’ve never seen the lavender bloom so early.

The bright roses came with the house, they must be over 50 years old, and are prolific bloomers. They can be fuchsia or red or sometimes both. I googled to see what causes roses to change color, and it can be a number of factors, the age, the grafting process, the soil Ph, the time of the season etc.

I tucked this pink climber repeat bloomer in behind it about ten years ago, and it has done well too.

This is a newer pink climber in the back yard, one of those end of season bargains that you think will never grow, and it has, although it’s taken awhile to get established.

But it’s doing well now.

An older John Cabot climber enjoying the early evening sunshine.

The Dipladenia has recovered from a very cold May. I saved the pink pots from a few years ago. It’s cheaper to make your own basket than to spend $40 on one, as they have become very popular the past few years due to being so drought resistant.

That concludes the pink tour, but later there will be pink hydrangeas, some phlox, and hopefully some pink glads and zinnias which I put in window boxes around the garden for later, so there will always be something in the pink.

Are you supposed to deadhead these things?

Now, you might think I am a wonderful gardener, because everything looks so bright and lovely early in the season, but later things will start to slowly die, as I lose my enthusiasm over the course of the summer and neglect to water because it’s just way to hot to go out, there are too many mosquitos at night and other assorted excuses. But for the month of June my garden always look pretty in pink!

And lastly, because one does not live by beauty alone….

Some greens…..

With pink vinaigrette!

Next week, a list of Beach Books.

A Walk in the Spring Woods

May 22, 202530 Comments

A walk in the spring woods on a day in early May is a delightful way to spend a Saturday especially when you have gotten up way too early to attend a plant sale where you buy your usual assortment of specimens that you know are going to die anyway because you’re just a plop-them-in-the-ground-and-hope-for-the-best-kind of gardener. Those horticultural society gardeners are serious folks, and early-risers too, (worse than garage sales), and usually by the time I get there everything is picked over and the half-price sale is on. They are quite horrified when I ask for something in pink, blue or lavender. The best they could come up with was some purple iris, a wilted Virginia bluebell, a day lily of unspecified colour, and a spinster gooseberry. (There was only one left, and the guy did warn me that his did not bear fruit because he didn’t have two, but hey that’s the way nature sometimes works.) He also tried to interest me in some leftover red and black currant bushes, but I passed on those as I remember having a row of those on the farm. Mainly because it was my job to pick them so my mother could make a red currant pie, which only my father ate as the currants were so sour. The birds ate the black currants. The single gooseberry bush did produce 2 or 3 berries occasionally, so I have faith.

Anyway, as the sale was winding down, several of my friends who belong to the Hort. Society invited me in for pizza, but I declined, because I didn’t really know the rest of the volunteers, and they might think I was just there for the free lunch, (people can be funny that way) so I went for a walk in a nearby park instead. It was a perfect spring day – sunny, a light breeze, not too hot, not too cold.

This particular park is about 100 acres in size and borders Lake Huron, and although I have been there many times – to the animal farm, the picnic pavilions, and of course the beach, I had never walked the densely wooded trail which is where these pictures were taken, (with my new camera which I am still figuring out). Early spring is best, when the trees are just starting to leaf out, and before tick season starts. The rest of the park contains more typical open areas, with lots of walking paths and tall trees. The wooded area is a favorite spot for birders, and there was certainly plenty of birdsong that morning, although I only saw two other people. Everyone else must have been out buying gifts for their mothers.

This area is an example of a Carolinian forest, a type of deciduous forest which spans the eastern US from Northern Carolina up into southern Ontario. (Wikepedia link) You can go either right or left on the trails, I chose right.

There were lots of pretty spring wildflowers in the woods.

And quite a bit of dead wood off the trails.

There were patches of white trilliums, which are our provincial flower, mostly seen on drivers licenses and heath cards, except for a few short weeks in the early spring. (These pictures were taken May 10). Trilliums have 3 flowers and 3 petals, hence the name, and also come in other colours. You are not supposed to pick the flowers, because they only have a few short weeks to store up enough energy and nutrients for the rest of the year, which is why they bloom in early spring when the tree canopy is lighter and sunshine is at the max.

Tree canopy – the only time of year you can see that particular shade of chartreuse green.

I remember the bush on the back of my parents farm being full of trilliums and one year my cousin and I picked masses of them and brought them up to the house for our mothers for Mother’s Day, only to be told by my dad that it was against the law to pick trilliums. I was about eight and had visions of the RCMP hunting us down! White trilliums are a favourite food of white tailed deer which is why the provincial parks often use annual trillium surveys to monitor the local deer population.

It is against the law to pick them in provincial parks, where they are so plentiful they probably deserve their own blog. Maybe next spring…

I didn’t do both trails, as like the trilliums I wanted to conserve enough energy to visit the turtles, so I drove the car around to the small lake in the middle of the park, and parked in front of it, (there were no signs – I checked). There were wild crab-apple trees along the path to the spot where the turtles like to hang out.

There’s nothing like the smell of apple blossoms.

The turtles like to sunbathe on a log that juts out into the mini-lake. They have their own fan club on sunny days. There are baby turtles too, but I didn’t see any that day. (I’m not sure why the water looks that shade?)

This was on the opposite side of the water so I was happy to have the camera with the 30X zoom lens, and the optical viewfinder so I can frame shots on sunny days. (It’s hard to find a digital camera with both – mine’s a Panasonic Lumix – Model DMC-ZS60 with a LCD rear view screen and a old-fashioned viewfinder in the top corner. I bought it in 2022, so there may be newer models out now.)

This turtle pond at a local nursery also has the same putrid looking water, but is home to 12 turtles waiting for their “forever pond.”

I’ll add one of mom’s paintings for old time’s sake. I really missed her on this first Mother’s Day without her, and the first time I hadn’t bought a card in fifty years.

When I returned to the car a group of nice young park rangers were gathered around it debating whether to ticket me for parking illegally but as they had not yet installed the warning signs, and I pleaded that I’d had heart surgery and couldn’t walk that far, I got off on a promise of good behaviour. (Really, that excuse could be good forever.) I concluded my walk with a short visit to the beach, because you know summer is just around the corner! Then I went home and had a two hour nap from all that fresh air!

A Ten Second Dose of Beauty

May 14, 2025May 14, 202516 Comments

One of the things I missed about blogging was that it encouraged me to focus on the positive things in life – good books, good food, new experiences and the beauty of the nature. I’ve started walking again, although my stamina isn’t what it used to be, and one of my favorite sights this spring was this expanse of wild daffodils nestled among the wooded acreage of an old mansion. Whoever planted these heirloom bulbs years ago, deserves credit for spreading such joy every spring. The video is only ten seconds, but it’s my first time uploading video so I hope it works.

These are from my garden, which has been sadly neglected over the past three years. No spring clean up going on here! I did plant 100 bulbs last fall, so I would have something to look forward to, but they barely made a dent. The daffodils were cheerful though, and the Siberian squill/wood squill/scilla bloomed at the same time. The woods above also have scilla, although they must have bloomed earlier this year. It’s always nice to have the contrast of yellow with blue or purple.

Although my grape hyacinths didn’t bloom until after the daffodils were done.

And the purple vinca later still.

These bell shaped blue flowers I bought at the horticultural society plant sale five years ago, are faithful spring arrivals.

There, I remembered how to do media. I bought a new camera in the fall of 2022, but I never really learned how to use it, so when I shot the photos in the woods, the camera setting was mistakenly on burst 4K video. So I had to figure out how to make screenshots of the video bursts and then crop the bottom play part out, which took more time than I care to admit. I hope you enjoy these early signs of spring. Stay tuned for next week, A Walk in the Spring Woods.

Flower Power

June 17, 2019June 18, 201920 Comments

The only positive thing about this cool rainy spring is that I haven’t had to water anything…not even once. Mother Nature has done it for me. In fact it’s rained so much this past month that most of the farmers haven’t even been able to get their crops planted, the latest season ever as many recall. It’s sad to drive through the countryside and see all those bare soggy fields. The crop insurance has been extended a few days, but things are looking desperate, and the forecast is more of the same. Let’s send out a few prayers for our farmers – because if they don’t plant, we don’t eat.

I’ve been preoccupied with the kitchen reno, but here’s a recap of the best of the spring flowers, even if I’ve been too busy and it’s been too rainy to enjoy them.

The hyacinths at the corner always make going to the mailbox a treat.

These little purple violets scattered in the grass are always so pretty, especially if you ignore the weeds!

The nicest thing about this picture, also taken near the mailbox, is the shade, which means the trees are finally leafing out. I love the play of the shadows on the lawn.

The squirrels dug up most of my tulips,

so I really appreciate it when someone else makes an effort. It’s always a treat to drive down this street and see this yard, and this one.

Last year I transplanted a few blue forget-me-nots from my neighbour – they were so pretty I hope they are invasive.

My only purchase earlier in the spring was a pink and yellow dahlia and a couple of bright pink begonias, my first for both types of plants. I didn’t know what to do with them, and read that the dahlia had to be dug up in the fall so I just stuck them in bigger pots. The dahlia has flourished, with many buds again, but the begonias got too water-logged.

The lilacs finally bloomed, mine pale and anemic, so I enjoyed the neighbors dark purple ones which hang over my fence. The bloom-again lilac was a few weeks later, but I was disappointed in it’s smell. We’ll see if it lives up to it’s name.

The lily of the valley was plentiful too, another invasive gift from a fellow gardener.

My 50 cent bargain iris from last years horticultural sale bloomed for the first time, all of them coming up purple, except for one ugly burgundy one I gave away as it didn’t fit the color scheme. The second year for this fuchsia clematis. My new one, planted last fall, is not out yet but as it is a Jackmanii, it may be later.

Sometimes I’m not sure if things will bloom the first year, but the half-price peonies planted last fall burst forth a pretty pink.

When I finally got to the nursery again, these were my selections. I’ve never had a dipladenia plant before (smaller than a Mandevilla), but it looks very tropical. And one can never have enough lavender.

I may pick up some half-price geranium pots if I can find any, but even the nursery plants are struggling this year. Many look so pathetic no one would want to take them home, which is just as well, as man does not live by flowers alone. I planted lettuce in early May and all the rain has made me the Lettuce Queen of the neighborhood. Let us be grateful for homegrown salads!

Lilac Time

May 9, 2019May 10, 201948 Comments

Our old white farmhouse was surrounded by lilac bushes, which were often out in time for Mother’s Day, an occasion we always celebrated on the farm with a big family meal which my mother prepared. Looking back, it seems strange we made her cook on Mother’s Day, but then my grandmother always came over, so she probably considered it her daughterly duty, and was happy having all her kids home, even if it did mean we ended up doing two hours of dishes by hand in the days before the dishwasher. Out would come the lace tablecloth and the good china, and the long farm table, dating from 1870, would be extended to its maximum length, with later another set up in the kitchen for the ever-growing collection of grandchildren. Of course, this was in the days before going out for brunch became popular, which we tried occasionally but which was often a disappointment, restaurants always being so busy that day, and the kids not being able to play outside, where the lawn and orchard would be sunny with dandelions.

Those old farm lilacs were common in the countryside, with almost every farmhouse (which back then only came in two types, white clapboard or yellow brick), sporting a bush or two. But ours were special, as they surrounded the house on three sides. If it was a nice day with a south breeze and the windows open, the smell was heavenly. The fragrance would waft in through the kitchen and living room windows, and also the upstairs bedrooms, as the bushes were quite tall.

We also picked some to bring inside and put in vases, something I still do to this day. Even when I was older, I would always take a bouquet or two home, wrapped up in tinfoil, to put on the kitchen counter.

After my father passed away and my mother moved into town, my sister brought her two lilac bushes as a house warming present. They lasted about fifteen years and then had to be cut down. I planted two lilac bushes in the corner of my yard ten years ago, and they are now starting to look spindly. One bush smells like what I remember, the other does not. Of course, they are late this year, like everything else, so these are pictures from last year.

There are over 2000 varieties of lilacs, according to the International Lilac Society, in a wide range of colors, sizes and blooms. Common lilacs generally prefer cold winters, well drained soil and full sun. They are low maintenance and require little watering, once established – my kind of plant!

My neighbor has the darker purple kind, which does not smell nearly as nice, but then maybe I’m just being nostalgic.

All lilacs are lovely, (except those four foot Korean Dwarfs, my Miss Kim never bloomed once), but it is the old-fashioned kind I love the most. While the nursery sold me the variety known as “common lilac” they certainly don’t seem as hardy as those old farm lilacs, which must have been heirloom stock, as they were still going strong at eighty years plus. (Some varieties only last 10 to 15 years.) The “common lilac” has the largest and longest blooms and the most fragrant flowers and can grow up to twenty feet. Ours would be pruned back once in awhile when they got too tall, (only prune immediately after the spring bloom), but they were always leafy and full, and the branches made excellent spears for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over a backyard bonfire.

I was told my grandmother planted them sometime in the 1920’s when she was newly married, after the house was raised, a basement put under it and a veranda added. She also planted a row of white spirea bushes beside them, so it formed a little alcove. I would sometimes take a book or magazine there and sit and read, sheltered from the wind, stopping once in awhile just to breathe in the scent. Here’s the view, looking out.

Someone needs to cut the grass!

After my mother moved, the house and the lilacs were bulldozed down to make room for more acreage – a sad fate after so many years of providing beauty. I wish I had thought to take a cutting or two, but I was busy with life and not much interested in gardening then.

Last fall, I bought two Bloomerang Lilacs on sale, a variety new to me, but then I’m always behind on the latest gardening trends. (Here’s a link to more info.) They are similar to the popular Bloom Again Hydrangeas, and will rebloom in the summer and fall after a short rest. They will only grow to 5 feet, making them more like a shrub than a tree. Mine seem to have survived the winter nicely and even have buds on them. I like the idea of having lilacs for three seasons, as a week or two in May seems much too short.

This would make a nice Mother’s Day gift!

If you’re ever in northern Michigan in early June, check out the famous Mackinac Island Lilac Festival (link – added to bucket list). No cars are allowed on the island, but you can cross on the ferry and stay at the Grand Hotel (where Somewhere in Time was filmed) and tour via bike or horse drawn carriage – now that really is going back in time. Visiting this lilac paradise is a nice way to welcome summer after a cold and snowy winter. Here are a few pictures from Victoria Magazine, May 2000 issue.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Farm Lilacs

Blockheads and Daffodils

May 4, 2019May 4, 201960 Comments

Which is more depressing, forty days of rain or using the new WordPress Block/Gutenberg editor?

Unlike Enchanted April (link to last blog), this past April has been anything but enchanting. Day after day of rain and gloomy skies – on Tuesday we even had a bit of sleet, and some places received several inches of snow. These cold wet late springs are beginning to be the norm here, and it seems you need to book a vacation to an Italian castle if you want to enjoy nice weather and blooming flowers in April anymore. Despite the debate over climate change, it does make you stop and think – are we ruining the earth? It’s enough to make you depressed, like poor old Charlie Brown of the Peanuts cartoon fame – remember how Lucy was always calling him a blockhead.

Which brinks me to my second topic, the new WordPress block editor or Gutenberg Editor, as it is named after Johannes Gutenberg, who invented a printing press with movable type more than 500 years ago. If you are not familiar with it yet, each paragraph, photo, video etc, is contained in it’s own separate block, and there is an option to try out this new Editor on the right hand menu in Draft. Since we are all (sooner or later), to be made mandatory Blockheads by WordPress, you may now have another reason to be depressed other than the weather, unless of course you’re the kind of person who enjoys coding and fiddling with layouts. If you’re just here for the joy of blogging, then it seems like the new editor has taken all the fun out of it. I’m not sure how they managed to take something so simple (writing and inserting pretty pictures) and make it so complicated. Of course, I may change my mind once I get used to it, but it seems to be taking twice as long to do anything, if you can even figure it out in the first place. On my first try I could not even paste in the draft I had written in Office Word. I had heard that it would automatically convert it to blocks so I wouldn’t have to copy and paste each paragraph individually. Was I not in the right block? I finally gave up and tried to exit back to the Classic Editor but could not find the button. I googled and read the tutorial and tried to contact a Happiness Engineer to no avail, and after wasting an hour finally located it at the bottom of some sub-menu. Intuitive it is not. Perhaps hiding the button was deliberate, thereby forcing me to stay here until I figured it out, but the hour grew late and I was starting to panic. It was like being in one of those reality “escape room” games where you have to figure out the clues or you’d be stuck there forever.

When I first joined WordPress almost two years ago, there were 32 million followers on here, now there are 52 million. I’m not sure what is behind their reason for the change to the block format (could it be the new European copyright laws coming?), but I would bet the majority of those on here are either amateur bloggers or smaller business sites, who don’t want, have the time or even care about how they can endlessly change and create new layouts by moving blocks around. It’s a puzzle to me, but then I am only a very small tadpole in a great big pond. I checked a recent survey though, 1800 of 2700 users who had tried it were not happy, so I don’t think I’m alone. It would be nice if WordPress would leave us the option to continue with the current Classic editor, if that is a possibility? (Asking nicely here, but not really expecting a positive response, as they didn’t listen about the dark blue likes and links which don’t contrast well to black ink.)

Ah well, the second attempt was better, but I watched a youtube tutorial first to get the basics. I’m sure there are many more icons and features I will need to know at some point, like just exactly how did I do the links? The captions were fun though. I’ll try it out to see if it will solve the problem of my very thin font with the Sela theme…(it did not, although I was allowed to make it larger). I’ll even try a background color, maybe yellow….pretty fancy eh? (Except it’s not really yellow, it’s called luminous vivid amber.) But good grief Charlie Brown, it’s just not worth all the grief. I think I would prefer to remain Glutenberg-free! Now where is that exit button again?

To cheer up I went for a walk in the woods. Here’s a link to last years blog, Among the Daffodils, because daffodils always remind me of sunshine, and we need some right now.

see how late the spring is, not a bud on the trees.

PS. Have you tried the new Gutenberg/Block Editor yet?

The Literary Salon – Enchanted April

April 24, 2019117 Comments

Last April I posted about a delightful book, Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnin, and since it is April again, I thought this would be a good selection for this month’s Literary Review. Although this book was written almost a hundred years ago, it’s a favorite of mine for it’s theme of beauty and hope, and how a lovely environment can renew one’s life and perspective. Here’s a link to the blog……Enchanted April. I hope your April has been enchanting too!

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this book, but I had watched the movie first. A timeless tale with a lovely story line and such vivid descriptions of flowers, gardens and beautiful countryside that you almost felt like you were there.

Italian Villa – 2015

Signs of Spring

April 4, 2019April 4, 201918 Comments

Spring is late again this year. Having survived a particularly brutal winter, which started early and never let up, we’re all tired of the snow and the cold, and anxious for the first signs of spring. So, here’s my take on the Six on Saturday Garden post….

March 20 – The first official day of spring – saw my first robin, who was uncooperative for a photo-shoot, hopping away every time I got near. Unfortunately the zoom lens on my camera is broken so this is as close as I got.

March 22 – The tulip and daffodil tips are peeking through on the south side of the house and some of the rose bush stems are starting to turn green.

March 23 – Went out for a walk for the first time in weeks, the wind was cold but the sun was bright, and the neighbor’s snowdrops were out in full force.

March 25 – The Angry Bird – I opened the front door to check the temperature this morning and saw the morning doves have returned. One was sitting on the front step, looking quite perturbed now that it has to find a new place to nest. They are life long lovers and creatures of habit, but as they didn’t build a nest last year I thought it was safe to install new light fixtures. I’m feeling guilty but my new lights are so much nicer than the old.

Mr. And Mrs. Lovebird

March 26 – So nice to see a blue sky again, especially against a budding maple tree.

March 27 – saw my first crocus while returning a book to the library. Their flower beds are always gorgeous because they have professional gardeners maintain them.

March 28 – first spring-like day, 15 C, and first milkshake from the Dairy Queen – chocolate of course. Drove home with the windows down.

March 29 – The ice is gone from the river and the sunlight is sparkling on the water again.

March 30 – our first all day spring rain flooded the back forty, but brought a tinge of green to the grass.

March 31 – brought a return to winter and a couple of inches of snow – the robin was not amused. The snow hung around for a more few days – is this some kind of April Fools joke?

A pot of hyacinths can provide a small dose of beauty,

while we wait for this.

What wonderful sights await us in a few more weeks. Happy Spring!

May Flowers

May 8, 2018May 11, 20185 Comments

April showers bring May flowers, so the saying goes. Finally we are having some signs of spring here after what must be the longest winter ever. Midway through April and nothing but single digit temperatures, flurries and freezing rain. The flowers were up and trying to be brave but why bloom when you can hide. But today it rained, a soft spring rain, destined to bring the first new fuzz out on the trees, a shade of green that is impossible to describe.

Here’s some proof that warm weather is on it’s way.

Forsythia and Siberian Squill,

Purple Vinca,

I like the mixture of colors in this clump of tulips, so cheerful to see while walking on a rainy spring day.

This is the best time of year for lazy gardeners, as mother nature is doing all the work.

All the fruits of last years fall plantings are bursting forth, and we can just sit back and enjoy the show.

my favorite pink tulip

The final sign, the love birds are back and nesting. They arrived during the last ice storm and had that nest assembled practically overnight, hence the messy job. It was so cold they must have felt the need for some extra layers. They need to do some spring cleaning and so do I, but first a cup of tea on the deck to listen to the birds and gaze at nature’s masterpiece.

Postscript: for more pretty flower pics see last weeks post Among the Daffodils.

Among the Daffodils

May 1, 2018April 30, 201915 Comments

Daffodils are one of the earliest messengers of spring and after such a long late brutal winter, the warm weather has finally arrived. I think we are in need of a little dose of sunshine, and perhaps some poetry.

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

William Wordsmith may be famous for the poem, I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud, but I think I much prefer his sister Dorothy’s 1802 journal entry about the walk in the English Lake District which inspired the poem.

“When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side, we fancied that the lake had floated the seed ashore and that the little colony had so sprung up – But as we went along there were more and yet more and at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the Lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing. This wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was here and there a little knot and a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity and unity and life of that one busy highway – We rested again and again. The Bays were stormy and we heard the waves at different distances and in the middle of the water like the sea.”

This acre of wild daffodils in a wooded lot is enough to motivate me to start my daily walks again. Every spring I thank the lovely soul who originally planted these heirloom gems, as they have reseeded themselves over the years in a way that my modern bulbs never seem to do. Mine might start out in orderly clumps, but the squirrels have great fun transplanting them and they eventually end up lonely as a cloud.

They are especially lovely paired with the delicate blue of Siberian Squill, a bulb that can be invasive over time, but who would mind?

Daffodils are the most cheerful of flowers, so bright and sunny, waving in the breeze as if they are announcing that spring is here. No wonder they belong to the Narcissus family, they demand look at me, and we do! Welcome spring!

Daffodils indoors