6 more kinds of daffodils in my garden

I was thrilled with the 11 varieties of daffodils that were blooming at the end of March.

Now another six are out.

Yet more daffodils

The first to bloom have already faded, but there are still plenty putting on a show. In case I haven’t posted enough photos yet, here are a couple varieties that bloom late.

And to give you a sense of how many we have, this is the flower bed along the driveway almost a week ago. I think I can squeeze in a few more!

So many kinds of daffodils

We must have a dozen different kinds of daffodils in bloom right now, along the front walkway, along the driveway, in a back flower bed and a few other places where they really shouldn’t be (note to self: move them!).

One kind has a pale pink trumpet, another had a stunning yellow and orange striped look. The doubles, and those that look more like pom-poms. The multi-flower ones are just starting to bloom. And I love the ones with any bit of orange.

Beyond daffodils, the lenten roses from my last post still look wonderful. They’re all in the back, along the house. Maybe I should squeeze some in among the daffodils for a bit more color, especially as the burgundy hyacinths seem to be struggling? Too much water at times for this perennial? Not enough water? Old age? Who knows why they aren’t thriving like the daffodils

First daffodils of 2020!

And the date this year is … March 9.

Oh, the daffodils were trying to bloom, but they were still unfurling slowly. Then temperatures topped 70 on Monday, and close to a dozen were suddenly in full flower to go along with the crocuses that have been out since the second half of February.

It’s been a mild winter, but that’s not the earliest we’ve had them in bloom. That would be March 1, according to my inconsistent record-keeping.

What feels different this time is just how many of our hundreds and hundreds of daffodils already have flower bulbs forming. So the yard could be in full bloom within a few weeks. Hopefully the later ones won’t fade too quickly because of too much heat, which I recall happened last year. Once they do fade, though, I’ve got many clumps that could be dug up and spread out to create an even more spectacular early-Spring display.

Like these, for example, squeezed around some red-hot pokers:

Now if only I could do something to keep that evil already-blooming hairy bittercress in check….

Just how early are the daffodils this year?

I’ll leave it to others to debate fluke mild winter vs. global warming. I’ll just point out that I spotted five daffodils blooming in our yard on Thursday, and two days later the number has quadrupled. I shouldn’t be surprised — we had them peeking up through the ground at Christmas, and temperatures hit 70 again this week.

Here’s what the blog tells me about when we first saw daffodils in other years:

2010 — March 19

2012 — March 2

2013 — March 21

2014 — April 1

Obviously my record-keeping is a bit(!) inconsistent.

Here are three of the blooms spotted this March 10: