Manager's Message
by Judy Zatsick, Site Manager, Green Spring Gardens
The Joy of Daffodils
Judy Zatsick. Photo by Lisa Jackson
Each year, spring unfolds slightly differently at Green Spring Gardens. Sometimes our wonderful national collection of witch hazels starts the show and steals it. Shades of bronze, orange, chrome yellow, and burgundy harmonize with early blooming Japanese flowering apricots (Prunus mume cultivars); and the golden Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) is right behind. Hundreds of hellebores nod heads of pink, white, and red at their feet in a glorious display of abundance. That was last year.
This year, the witch hazels were quieter, their impact diminished by fewer flowers and a softer display. But the magnificent magnolias and flowering cherries heralded in the spring, towering above the witch hazels and tossing their lovely full branches in the cool air. The hellebores were welcoming, but their yellow sisters stole their thunder. This was the year of the daffodil.
Our earliest daffodils peeped out in January in the rock garden, the adorable bulbicodium type in the palest shade of butter yellow. ‘February Gold,’ with its sturdy yellow trumpets, burst open on cue, a bright yellow splash in the Long Border mid-February.
As spring gained confidence, almost a month early, grass-green tips of daffodil foliage, with swollen buds in white and yellow, rapidly expanded across the gardens. The show began and, thanks to the cool weather, continues.
Spring daffodils at Greeb Spring. Photo by Fred BlottGreen Spring Gardens enjoys over 100 varieties of daffodils. They are a wonderful garden plant for our area, carefree in average soil in a sunny spot. Deer and other critters won’t eat them, and many will expand into robust clumps for dividing and sharing.
Daffodils come in a dizzying range of shapes and sizes, organized into 13 divisions, and if selected carefully, can provide blooms from early February until May. A good number are highly fragrant with a uniquely daffodil scent of spring—a heady floral with green leaves, a hint of musk, and sweet vanilla undertones.
Come and stroll the gardens, and select your favorite daffodil, if you can decide. Perhaps it’s the cheerful gold petals and deep orange cup of ‘Brackenhurst’ that catches your eye. But then what about the apricot-colored trumpets of ‘Accent,’ or the nodding creamy translucent buds of ‘Moonlight Sensation,’ or the heady fragrance of elegant, pure white ‘Thalia’? If you like doubles, ‘Tahiti’ has a frilly flower of bright yellow and salmon orange. And then the poeticus group with their romantic name and lovely ‘Pheasant Eye’ are sure to please. ‘Actaea’ in this group is a late bloomer, with a diminutive red and orange cup and overlapping pure white petals. I challenge you to find just one favorite.
I’ll close with a poem by William Wordsworth:
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of dancing daffodils
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in a sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed and gazed but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Happy spring! I hope to see you in the gardens.
