Daffodils, with their large, sunny trumpets, are beaming happy vibes in every direction of our garden right now, making it a perfect pick-me-up place to be. And today, I’ve brought a jug of those bright blooms indoors to share for Cathy’s weekly In-a-vase-on-Monday meme.
Sadly, they are not as pristine as they might be, because they were picked to rescue the large numbers of heads that were beaten to ground in last week’s torrential downpour. Nowadays I tend to go for smaller/shorter/later varieties that avoid this problem, but these Narcissus ‘Ice Follies’ were planted ages ago, in front of a new hedge soon after we moved in. They do well here. They come up in gradually increasing quantities every year, but some are invariably flatten by wind or rain at some stage of their display. So I use their downfall as an opportunity … and cut them for a vase. Then I get a chance to admire them close up … and sample their sweet fragrance (its quite strong).
The tolerance of the title comes in, because I am not a huge fan of yellow flowers. Daffodils are an exception, but even so I tend to stick to creamy whites (except for Tête-à-têtes which I adore). Daffodils are just too hard to resist when planning a cheerful spring display.
Also, I would never willing choose two-toned, double daffodils! However, a while back I bought one of those massive bargain sacks of mixed daffodils and I’ve been living with a few clumps of them ever since. Being rather top heavy, the doubles fared particularly badly last week, so I’ve gather a bunch of them too and mixed them with the ‘Ice Follies’.
So now I have a vase that brings to mind oranges and lemons or maybe lemon meringue pie (it’s the creamy ruffles I think) … and you know what? I quite like it.
In fact, those double daffs are actually rather beautiful. Look at those sunset colours.
And they certainly look stunning against a blue sky:
So, with the Ice Follies to tone them down a bit, maybe I could even get to love them?
What do you think? Are you a fan? Or maybe, could you be?
Thanks to Cathy for hosting as usual 🙂 . Pop across to her blog (Cathy@ramblinginthegarden) to catch up with tons more Spring (and Autumn) vases. Have fun!
Frogend dweller's Blog 
Seeing those flowers couldn’t help but make a person smile. I don’t generally go for the frilly ones either but somehow they’ve crept into my garden as well.
I blame those bargain basement bags! Hearing you describing them as ‘frilly’ now makes me think of cancan dancers. They are having a legs up in my garden! That definitely makes me smile 🤣
I am with you on all of these potential prejudices, Allison, although seeing these paler blooms I could possibly be persuaded – but would still rather see them in a vase than growing in the garden!
Well, I do tend to treat them as annual cutting material, but maybe that is why they are bulking up so well?! I never let them put their energy into the flowers for long and so it goes straight to growing the bulbs! 🤦
Yes, I have a few oddments like that around the garden, which I tend to use as quickly as possible as they are somehow never in a sensible place – never occurred to me that thi might encourage them to bulk up, but I suspect you might be right. Look out for hyacinths and narcissi in a vase soon…! 😁
They are lovely, and yes, they do grow on you. I bought some peach ‘butterfly’ narcissi many years ago to try them out and they still are coming up. I like to pick a few for vases to appreciate the colors up close. We are a month behind you, so am looking forward to my own daffodil days ahead.
Oh lovely and we can share them all over again! I’ve been thinking that the act of picking them every year is probably helping them bulk up 😉
I always deadhead my daffs … I feel like the Red Queen, “Off with their heads!” ;D
Glad you’re enjoying these after all. I think they’re wonderful together as you’ve arranged them. The colors and shapes seem happy to me. I bought a big mixed bag this year and so far I have just one double (all yellow).
Thank you. Since readers have kindly suggested all kinds of delicious desserts they bring to mind, I am much happier looking at them! Funnily enough I just found a new patch of double yellow daffs in our garden today. It was when I went to pick them up off the ground 🤣.
I think they’re all wonderful. I love yellow, cream, and peach, so this suits me perfectly. I’d far rather have these than blues and pinks — though now I’m hungering for lemon pie. Lemon chiffon, if you please — just the color of some of these.
Nice idea. I’ve just looked up lemon chiffon and now I can’t wait to try making it!
As it happens, I have the perfect recipe for you. It’s the lemon chiffon pie from Stone’s Restaurant in Marshalltown, Iowa. In the 1950s, my eye doc was in that town. When my folks would take me for an appointment, we’d always stop at Stone’s for a piece of this pie. It was known as the “mile high pie” and it is nice and high. I started craving it a few years ago, so I got online and went searching — and there it was.
And here’s a picture of Stone’s! Sometimes I love the internet.
I love them too. 😃 In a vase. 😉 Maybe not so much in the garden… But what a great excuse to cut a whole big bunch of them for indoors! The peachy colours remind me of melons. Melon sorbet? Yumm!
It’s a great excuse, although I am becoming convinced it’s the cutting that is helping them thrive. Everyone is coming up with great ideas for food comparisons, so if I find myself dribbling when I look at them, I will be blaming blogging friends 🤣.
I had a meadow full of these type of diffs…they made me sing every spring. Love them!
They do seem to represent a special exuberance about spring, so they really are a positive contribution to the garden and I will view them fondly hence forward! 🙂