Thursday, February 17, 2011

The First Daffodil

As I was cleaning up outside yesterday and dead-
heading the sad looking pansies, I saw a bright glimmer of hope for things to come: the first daffodil of the season. I have really been worried about spring blooms after our record breaking lows from the past few weeks. I lost some of the pansies in containers, a few snapdragons, and all of the kale. These plants usually do fine in our winter weather, but these Arctic fronts have taken their toll on Texas plants this year.
I was starting to see bulbs poking up before the fronts paid us a visit, but not realizing how really cold it would get, I wasn't worried. It was after it started to thaw up a bit I noticed all the freezer burn on the foliage. I wrote Southern Bulbs and asked what they thought about the daffs and tulips here in the Dallas area. The answer was:
"Your daffodils and tulips should be fine and bloom for you this spring (although the foliage was covered in ice and snow for 4 days). The most important thing is that the daffodils and tulips were not budding or in bloom when the freezing weather came and sat down on Dallas/Fort Worth. Damaged foliage can recover from freezing those temperatures, but a bud/blossom cannot. So, expect healthy daffodil and tulip blooms this spring!"
Such good news!! But pessimistic me was still rather skeptical..until I saw this pretty little flower nodding in the breeze. I am now seeing more buds on the daffodils, and I do see a few tulips starting to come up. It was lots of work planting the bulbs, and the disappointment of not having their spring show made me really sad--but looks like my harbingers of spring are ok after all.

9 comments:

JenningsJunk said...

AWESOME NEWS!! and awesome picture *huge grin*

tina said...

Early too and looking sunny as always! Your pansies should bounce back. They never bother about the snow or ice here. Won't be long and those bluebells will be a bloom!

Meadowview Thymes said...

JJ--it IS good news! And I am ready for those blooms! :)

Tina--do you really think the pansies will make it? They look so bad right now. I am seeing more buds on the daffodils, so hopefully I will have blooms soon!

Lola said...

I have a couple daffodils blooming but was worried about them too. Seems like every day or so I have another open. I wish I knew the names of them.

Meadowview Thymes said...

Lola-I know the names of what I planted, but I mixed them together so I only can identify a few. A few more buds are popping up, but there are lots of plants with nothing!

Anonymous said...

Daffodils are sunshine on a stem, don't you think? I love them dearly! How lucky you are to have them in February, it will be April for us!

Meadowview Thymes said...

Robin--"sunshine on a stem" - love it!!

Skeeter said...

Our Daffy, Vinca, Phlox and Hyacinth are blooming! The plum and other trees are budding, yippee....

Meadowview Thymes said...

Skeeter--wow, you are further along on trees. And I could not have said it better...YIPPEE!!!