Thursday, April 13, 2017

I Like #23!

I like spring.  I like to watch the garden come alive and how every day during my morning tour of the garden, I see wonderful things that have happened overnight.It's like having my own special show in the back yard.
I do agree with a quote I saw awhile ago that said something like "if you want to teach a child about miracles, have them plant a garden."

This week I like daffodils.




I know where almost every plant came from in this garden.  It's not unlike how I know where each piece of fabric was obtained in my stash.  These daffodils were all from my son, Peter.  He used to give me daffodil bulbs for my birthday.  

Daffodils are interesting because they are very diverse in appearance and eventually, with help of the bees, new species are formed in your very garden.  It's very exciting to find a new strain!  These are just the ones blooming now.  We lost the first batch with the snow (except the ones that I had picked beforehand).  

Daffodils are what you want to plant if you have a problem with deer or squirrel eating your flower bulbs.  Every part of the daffodil is toxic and squirrels won't touch them.  

I know this well since I have planted about 200 tulip bulbs in my garden at one time or another.  I have under 5 tulips left.  One year, my brother gave me tulips with distinct red pattern on the leaves.  When they didn't resurface the next year, I thought the tulips hadn't made it through the winter.  WRONG!  I found them surfacing in my neighbors grass where the dang squirrels had planted them.
I like the honey bee quilt pattern.  I prefer the 19th century version (with the solid square instead of nine patch).  We have a lot of honey bees in our neighborhood.  It's surprising to garden visitors.  We live in a quiet neighborhood in a small city.  However, the Oyster House restaurant down the street keeps bee hives on it's roof.  I like that.  Bees are in so much trouble here with hive collapse that our orchard growers actually send their hives to the south for the winter.

I like all the rituals of spring:  changing decor to mirror the warm and happy months, purging things (especially clothes) and springtime projects (usually involving paint or some other messy thing that should be done outdoors).  I'm off to do more work and wish you the happiest of Easters!  Stop over and see LeeAnna from "Not Afraid of Color" and all the other participants in the Thursday celebration!


7 comments:

Mary in Peoria Handmade said...

The honey bee quilt is so sweet! You are so fortunate to have those lovely flowers! It's so hard to get those lovelies going here in the desert. great post for me to see first thing this morning. mary in Az

PaintedThread said...

Daffodils - I really need to get me some. There's some in the neighborhood, but some on my kitchen table would be nice! Huzzah for spring!

LA Paylor said...

and the squirrels don't eat daffy's Your picture is perfect. A perfect flower.

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Your daffodils are just beautiful! They are my favorite flower, and I've definitely been enjoying mine this spring, too. We have a lot of squirrels in our yard, and they also do a lot of digging! One year my husband wanted to grow sunflowers, and those squirrels dug up every bit of the seeds he planted, almost before he was finished! Happy Easter to you!

Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana said...

Thanks Michele, it is fun getting to know another Nana for sure. (Thanks for the shout out.)This is another marvelous post with a lot of great information. I did not know the facts of daffodils which of course are so beautiful. Spring is a great time for clearing out, opening windows and here airing out...very much needed with two old people and two big dogs inside all winter. I was struck by your mention of the honeybee block. I have a book called 101 Patchwork Patterns by Ruby McKim, 1962 and I had just last week earmarked the Honey Bee pattern. I'd love to use that for a quilt sometime. A nod to the importance of the bee to growing things.

Shannon said...

So sorry about your squirrel problem!! But I love your daffodils. I need to plant some- they're by far my favorite of the spring flowers and they were my grandmother's favorite too!

Allie-oops Designs said...

Unfortunately, I'm one of those folks that aren't fond of daffodils - I much prefer tulips, but so do our deer! I have some that haven't bloomed yet in the back of the house, most of the leaves were gone before the buds popped up, we'll see if they survive. I would LOVE to come see your garden!!!!