We've Got a New Baby!

The daffodil season has been one of the best yet here at Our Little Acre, and amazingly enough, it's still going on. We even have one variety that is just emerging from the ground! (Narcissus 'Faith') I think I planted them too deeply and they've struggled to make their way to the sunshine, so I'll be surprised if they actually bloom. We'll see.



Most of our daffodils have come and gone, but a little charmer is at the height of its glory. 'New Baby' is a teeny weeny thing - so small that I nearly missed its first blooms. Each tiny flower is no more than an inch across. Its foliage is appropriately thin-bladed, making this a delicate addition to the spring palette. I just love it!




To give you a better perspective on just how tiny this daffodil is, here's a picture of them with their bedfellows:

Can you see them? They're at the right front of the bed, between the Tiarella and the Pulmonaria. Look very closely and you can see a couple of very tiny blooms. This is the first year I've had them and I expect them to bloom better next year. I think I'll need to move them though, because with as late as they bloom, too many leaves are on the trees by now for them to get as much sun as they like.

One little 'Thalia' is hanging on, but the rest have been gone for a week or so. It's the first spring for those, too, and I really like them. They're truly a white white.







One of my very favorites is 'Avalon'. It's sturdy-stemmed and has a large-sized flower. I like the white highlighting around its white cup. They didn't bloom as heavily this year as they did last, though.










I've only got a few 'Lemon Beauty' daffodils, but they're a nice accent to the other yellow petaled ones.

They have a split cup, though not as frilly as that other one I have that I keep threatening to dig up and feed to the squirrels. I don't think even the squirrels will want them though. They're so ugly, they're scary.


You can't really tell how ugly they are from this photo, though...

'Replete' Glamour Shot

'Sagitta' made its first appearance here this spring and I'm glad I bought two bags of them last fall. The cup is almost apricot and the flowers are quite large. They last a long time, too.

'Rick' borders on having a pink cup...

...but 'Pink Charm' truly is pink.

I thought 'Jetfire' would have a more orange cup than it did and that it would have a larger flower. It's on the smaller side. Regardless, I really like this one. I'll just look for another yellow with a solid orange cup to plant this fall.

'Delibes' is a real stunner.

'Pipit' is a reliable bloomer and is a somewhat smaller version of 'Avalon'. Many times it has multiple blooms on one stem.











There were various other unnamed daffodils that graced us with their presence...

This all-yellow is the largest daffodil we have.

Little 'Tete-a-Tete' never fails to bring cheer to the gardens. Just before Jenna's bridal shower in April, I bought more at Walmart and dotted them throughout the flower beds for some more color, since not a whole lot of anything else was blooming when these were.





'Rip van Winkle' only managed to produce one measly bloom this year, and 'Golden Bells' didn't bloom at all. I use bulb food, so I'm not sure what happened with these. Maybe they'll do better next year.







And of course, we've got the classic Poet's Daffodil spotted here and there around the yard. Some of them are thirty years old, because we dug them from a ditch down the road shortly after we moved here. But in all that time, did you know that I didn't realize they were highly fragrant? I accidentally caught a whiff this spring while weeding near them and I was so surprised by how good they smelled.


It's hard to believe we're so far into the growing season that the daffodils are nearly finished! It's been a lovely spring and it's gone far more quickly than winter did. Why is that always the case?