The Daffodil Show

"Daffodils" (1804)



I WANDER'D 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 stretch'd 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.


By William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

The Daffodil Show has begun in my yard! The nice thing about planting lots of varieties is that I still have many that have yet to bloom!! I can't believe how unique some of them are too. Here's some pictures I have taken over the past  week....some of them don't give them justice, you really need to see them in person to get a good feel for how pretty they are!

I love the ruffles on these!

The darn wind keeps knocking over my heavy double blooms. I keep taking them inside when they start to fall. The kitchen smells good!

I have a lot of these daffodils with multiple blooms. I planted 50 Avalanche and 100 Minnows. They look similar, but the Minnows are the smaller variety.

A view of the hill of daffodils, looks much better in person!

Isn't this one fun?

These have pretty ruffles too!

This one is very cool looking too! Many of them are surprises, I planted lots of groupings and didn't know what all of them would look like. One group I bought was called "The Daffodil 100"...it had 100 bulbs and each bulb was a different variety.

There's lots of other daffodils all around the yard that have been here for who knows how many years. I've been working on transplanting some that are too crowded, so next year's show will be even better!

Addicted to Flowers!

The Camellia Society hosted a show and sale at the Raleigh Arboretum this past weekend. I went with a friend and bought four gorgeous camellias. They were sold for barely over the wholesale price. It was great! They were huge compared to what you would get for that price at a nursery around here. So far, I've got three planted in the woods. I'm planning to plant the last one tomorrow.

I think my favorite of them was Margaret Davis:

Here's what Turandot will look like:

Fran Mathis:

Crimson Candle's is blooming gorgeous already...this is a shot of the blooms up close:

Soon the woods behind my house are going to be gorgeous! :-)

Spring Cleaning Yard Work

It was gorgeous last week, so I was outside from morning until dark getting all muddy working in the yard for a few days. I finally got my last perennials trimmed back from last year. I've started the daunting task of mulching in my yard! I think I did about 15 wheelbarrow loads one day. My camellia bed and azalea bed look great though! Tons of daffodils are popping up all over the place! I dug up the ones around the big oak stump and there were about 100 or more...I was transplanting them in the rain on Thursday! I love spring!!!! It was warm and I didn't even care that I was getting rained on. I ended up transplanting daffodils by the chicken fence, so they will enjoy them next spring. :-) They may not, but I will!

A few of the daffodils that are blooming now. :-)

A little over a week ago, my friend Elizabeth came over and we "raided" my neighbor's yard, with her permission of course! I got a wheelbarrow full of irises and she wants me to take more. I also transplanted forsithia bushes, a beauty berry bush, a holly bush, and two Japanese snowball trees.  I can't wait for everything to bloom! I planted most of it around the edge of the woods. I'm trying to "paint" the woods to add color through the seasons.

The chickens have been enjoying me being outside planting things, because my neighbor gave me a great idea. She said they look bored, because they have cleaned their fenced yard of all things green. I have dug up bucket loads of grass and weeds and they have had a great time eating and playing with the clumps.

I also planted two mini roses in my rose garden and two climbing roses next to my garden fence last week. I've decorated my garden shed this spring and got my birdhouse hung up. I checked on it today and so far no one has taken up residence there. Hopefully someone will, it's quite the cute house!