Spring
A Poet's Dream
The pheasant's eye daffodil, an old variety known since Ancient Greece, is thought to have inspired the Narcissus myth and the story of Persephone's journey to Hades.
Cheerful and fragrant, these blooms, unfairly linked to vanity, carpet clearings in spring, offering a sight that would inspire any poet.
Like many fleshy white flowers, narcissi have an intense, unique scent, highly prized by perfumers.
Because it is too strong to be used in combination, overwhelming more delicate fragrances, it belongs to the category of soliflore perfumes, like lily-of-the-valley, tuberose, or gardenia.
Narcissi spread wildly when they find favorable conditions, and during their spectacular blooming season one can pick them in thick bunches, but be careful, because they are toxic, even more than other daffodils.
Like all spring bulbs, they have delicate, sappy stems. When brought indoors, they add a fresh and beautiful touch of spring, but they don't last very long.
Little Drops of Sunshine
Every year I wait to see which woodland flower will win the race and bloom first: hepatica or winter aconite, and it is usually the latter.
This early buttercup blooms sometimes in the middle of February, while everything else is still dormant, so its bright yellow drops of sunshine are impossible to miss in a dreary mess of sticks and faded foliage, when everything still dons shades of tan and brown.
After its flowers fade, the foliage dies back to the ground, and the plant disappears from sight until the following spring.
Like all early flowers, winter aconite capitalizes on sunlight filtering through leafless branches before the canopy fills in, so by all means plant it in deciduous shade, but keep in mind it's a woodland native which likes the loose acidic soils that build up underneath pine trees.
It's highly toxic, just like other plants in the buttercup family. On the positive side, this means it won't be consumed.
Fields of Daffodils
This photo erased all my excuses; yes, daffodils do naturalize, as one can clearly see here.
Of course the pretty flowers get the benefit of all their favorite conditions: woodland setting with dappled sunshine sifted through deciduous tree canopies, a slightly acidic, rich and moist medium and undisturbed forest soil.