Daffodils 2014

If you have read my blog for a while, you know I am into growing Daffodils. 

The obsession started in 2009 when I started a program for the city where kids would plant daffodils at their schools. 

Since then I have become involved with the Texas Daffodil Society and I am trying to grow many varieties.  Here are some I should have labeled, with stakes-- you know I am kicking myself because I can't find my diagram where I noted what each one was as I planted it...

My Daffodil Plan

My Daffodil Plan is off to a good start. I planted about 20 groups of daffodil bulbs randomly amongst the front yard grass. The first two bulbs popped up overnight one day last week and are blooming now... many more are coming. So nice to see them amongst the dormant grass.

 

I am going for that Daffodil Principal - Wye Mountain, Ark - Keith Kridler's home in Mount Pleasant  sort of effect.  It's going to take me a while but you gotta start somewhere!

First Daffodils of 2014

My first three daffodils of the year have popped up around our front yard tree.

If you follow my blog , you know I love daffodils.  These particular ones are the first ones I ever planted in December 2009.  It was when I started a program for the city called Daffodils for Schools, we planted daffodils in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. 

Spring is almost here and I am totally ready!   Have a great Monday !

Daffodils Mt.Pleasant, Texas

On the way home over the weekend,  we took a detour through Mt. Pleasant, Texas to stop at the Kridler Farm to look at more daffodils.

Yes, I am nuts about daffodils and since the blooming season is short I have to see as many as I can while I can.  LOL

Here are the three of us standing in the middle of Keith's "side yard".  Isn't this amazing?  So beautiful, lucious and green! 

 Keith Kridler is someone I met through the Texas Daffodil Society a few years ago.  He is an authority in the US on Daffodils and a Texas Master Gardener. I had him speak at my Daffodil seminar for the city back in January.

He has more than 1000 varieties and about a million bulbs in the ground! 

While we walked around, Keith would pick a flower and rattle off the name like it was his ABC's.  I wish I could remember all the names but these were some of the ones I was fast enough to snap a picture of.

 

It's a total of 20 acres and we only saw the front. AMAZING!!! 

Hope you are having a great week!

Arkansas Moments

Here are a few favorite moments from our fast and furious weekend trip to Arkansas.

The Wye Mountain Daffodil Festival.  Here are the God Sisters, they are soon to be 8 and 7 1/2-- we know the days of coordinating outfits and bows are so numbered. 

 The fabulous dinner at Mathers Lodge and the incredible Sunset at Petit Jean Mountain

 A new family picture to remember the trip.

I also have a new picture of Micaela and I with the sunset in the background in the about me section of the blog.  Thanks for letting me share. 

Dallas Blooms

Good Morning,

The Texas Daffodil Show happened over the weekend at the Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Garden.  While there I snapped a few pictures of the gorgeous gardens.

Dallas Blooms runs March 2 to April 7.  More info here. 

Snow Today

We woke up to about four inches of snow this morning.  Unfortunately it really wasn't enough to cancel or postpone start time at school or work.  We didn't even have time to play in it before sending Micaela off to school and us heading off to work.

Here are a couple snapshots of my daffodil pots.

I got this new plant stand for my birthday last week and I am so excited, I had been wanting one for a while.  Can't wait for my daffodils to bloom.  

Hope you are staying warm today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Daffodils 2013

If you have read my blog the last couple of years, you know that I am "into" growing daffodils.  It's a fairly new hobby that I started in 2010 when I started a program centered around daffodils at the city.

The week of Christmas when I was surfing the internet, I spotted some daffodils on sale at an online store and could not resist buying a few more bulbs.  I have never purchased bulbs online so we will see how this goes.  I got the bulbs last week and I finally got around to planting them yesterday because it had been really cold and wet outside.

For now our patio table is serving as kind of a plant stand. I have all of the varieties labeled with plastic spoons and spreaders that I save from fast food purchases (you know I am into reusing stuff).  The pots in the back are 10" and the pots in the second row are 8".   Be assured I will post pictures of their progress in the weeks to come.  (I tend to watch them like a hawk...lol).  Thanks for stopping by! 

Daffodil Seminar

If you're local, this may be of interest.

Nothing adds more to your spring garden than daffodils, they are perennial, easy to grow, drought tolerant and magnificently beautiful. Once they're planted, you do nothing and they lead the floral parade every spring.

Come learn all about them from Texas daffodil expert, Keith Kridler on January 5 from 1 to 3pm.

Register online at www.mckinneytexas.org/green

Dallas Arboretum Chihuly Exhibit

My parents and aunt & unlce were in town this week.  I took them to the Dallas Arboretum Chihuly Exhibit.  It was incredible. 

 

It was a cold and overcast day but here are a few of my favorite pictures.  Average age of these folks is 75, I hope I am that active when I am thier age, here they are in front of this incredible sculpture. 

 

This is my favorite picture because it looks like it's one continuous body of water but it's not. 

 

Two of my favorite three ladies in the world, my Mom and my Tia Lala.

 

A little more about the artist: 

Artist Dale Chihuly creates free-standing sculptures, large-scale artwork installations and drawings, which have been exhibited at museums, gardens, architectural environments and galleries throughout the world. Ninety-seven exhibitions in seven countries have presented Chihuly artworks during the last decade, which have been enjoyed by more than 10 million visitors.

Daffodil Bag

If you read my blog, you know I am into Daffodils.  Last month I made a bag to carry all my stuff to the Texas Daffodil Show at the Dallas Arboretum.  This is the bag.

I started by purchasing the daffodil design from Embroidery Boutique more than a year ago.  (that's how long I have been thinking about making this bag).  Then I purchased about 12 different fabrics in yellow and green.  I wanted a patchwork look, my inspiration was a bag made from a jelly roll (2.5 inch strips of fabric).  I pieced all the fabrics together and made up the bag as I went along.   I top stitched the strips with a decorative stitch and alternated yellow and green thread. I appliqued a free hand circle I cut from a lid (honest) with the daffodil applique on it and then top stitched it to the bag.    I lined the inside with one of the yellow fabrics, added a ruffle at the top, a velcro closure, and long strap so I could carry it criss cross.  Ta Da.   

Thanks for stopping by! 

Texas Daffodil Show

If you follow my blog you know I have developed a new facination with daffodils. Well, this weekend was the Texas Daffodil Show at the Dallas Arboretum. This was my first "show" as an "exhibitor" and it was great fun. Three flowers from our garden here at home placed and so did another friends. Here are pictures of our flowers with our ribbons.

This photo below received honorable mention in the Photography Contest- Special Effects category. This effect is called HDR-ish and I did it using Picnik.com.

Here is the original photo from above.

One of Micaela's Special Effects photos received a blue ribbon and was a judge favorite as "Great Abstract".

The Texas Daffodil Show was alot of fun and I hope to do it again next year!

Texas Daffodil Society

Several years ago I started an outreach program for schools with daffodils at work. I didn't know anything about daffodils because they are not typically grown in the valley where I am from. Over the last couple of years I have developed a real appreciation for the variety of daffodils available.

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This year while doing some research I found the Texas Daffodil Society which happens to be based in Dallas. I've joined and have been attending meetings so I can pass along the information to the schools participating in our program. I have learned so much. This week's meeting was especially interesting because the program was focused on Grooming Daffodils & Design in preparation for the Daffodil Show in March.

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The speakers brought many varieties of daffodils, most of which I had only seen in pictures. It was quite facinating. Here are a few of my snapshots.

It's hard to believe these are real flowers because they are so incredibly unique and fragrant! My hope is that the students at the schools will participate in the show, I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Daffodils 2012

Daffodils are coming up.... slowly but surely! This is a bloom around our tree that is about ready to open. It's not even February yet! I think the daffodils are confused because it's been such a warm winter.

This is a pot I have on our front sidewalk (planted this year) and these are barely starting to sprout through As you can see our grass is very brown. More updates soon.

Daffodils 2012

This is my third year to plant daffodils. In 2010, I planted daffodils around a tree in our front yard. In 2011, Micaela and I planted daffodils in one of the flower beds in our backyard. And now I have gone bananas! Micaela and I have planted about 300 bulbs in every pot I own and sparatically in our remaining flower beds. Not all the bulbs are daffodils, I've added dutch irises, tulips and hyacinth and paperwhites. We'll see how they come up. For now I am staring at pots of dirt with mulch on top!

I am most excited about some different daffodil varieties in some little pots. I got these special bulbs at North Haven Gardens when I attended a Texas Daffodil Society meeting. I picked the bulbs with cool names and pictures of more unusual flowers-- I am still learning so we'll see what comes up. If you look beyond the pots on the table in this picture, you can see a pot on the ground that already has some leaves starting to sprout through the mulch, I am so excited!

Thanks for stopping by!