dancing through the DAFFODILS

Springtime comes early to Mississippi—thank goodness— and daffodils herald spring’s arrival in all its glory. And even though we are far removed from England’s famed Lake District, Mississippi gardeners, like Wordsworth, are prone to wax poetic when a “host of golden daffodils” bloom en masse.

- MARGARET GRATZ

Winter in the Deep South is mercurial and sometimes confounding. A few balmy days in January can encourage daffodils to “toss their heads in sprightly dance,” but Old Man Winter can return unexpectedly. At such a time, daffodils are a lesson in resilience. Defying the frigid temperatures, they hold their heads erect. I have seen plucky daffodils blooming in the snow. Such fortitude is an inspiration.

Daffodils, even the untimely ones, beguile gardeners, but the peak season for this lovely flower of the Narcissus species is early spring. Look for daffodils to bloom in tandem with many spring-flowering shrubs, such as forsythia, spirea, and flowering quince. Most daffodils, but not all, are usually past their peak by the time azaleas bloom.

Wordsworth saw “ten thousand (daffodils) at a glance.” Like the bard, once one has seen a profusion of daffodils blooming, ten thousand does not seem like too many. It is a good thing that daffodils naturalize with enthusiasm and tend to multiply with ease.

Daffodils are not only beautiful, but they are deer resistant and are not susceptible to disease. Daffodils are harbingers of spring, but many varieties bloom at different times and thus prolong the season.

DAFFODILS

GROWING DAFFODILS