promising to become daffodils, originally uploaded by corrada2000.

Photographer corrada2000 tells us about this February 27, 2010 image: The picture was taken in my garden in Neu-Ulm / Bavaria / Germany. As we live near the Swabian Mountains and just about an hour’s drive from the Alps, daffodils and flowers in general bloom rather late. The daffodils here are the common yellow kind, nothing special.

Early daffodils, originally uploaded by dididumm.

Photographer dididumm tells us about this February 16, 2010 image: The photo was taken in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on a small, private cemetery for only one family. Cemeteries on private ground officially don’t exist in Germany, but if you know where, you can find some – most of them aren’t in use any more though.

Unstoppable spring!, originally uploaded by k~owl.

When we last spoke with k~owl, the sprouts had just appeared in early January. Here is what has been happening since then, with reference to this February 5, 2010 image: Actually I can’t tell you much new about the photo – I used the same gear as I did in the other picture (Canon 40D, 50mm+macro lens, ring flash). My poor daffodils are experiencing an extreme winter, like the rest of Europe – snow since Christmas, unusually low temperatures and little sunshine. But at least it looks like the snow is melting at last, so I expect to re-discover them soon (We got 15 cm fresh snow after I took the picture and our current closed snow cover wouldn’t even allow their tops to peep out).

The comment on the photo’s flickr page offers these hopeful words: My daffodil sprouts haven’t been idle under their white blanket. The heralds of spring have re-emerged eventually … and they are singing of better days.

The heralds of spring, originally uploaded by k~owl.

Photographer k~owl tells us about this January 23, 2010 photo: The photo was taken with a Canon EOS 40D, a 50mm f/1.4 lens and a close-up filter (Marumi DHG Achromat +5) @ f/22 (the smallest possible aperture since the close-up filter creates a very shallow depth). Camera was stabilized by a bean bag and I used a ring flash.

Location is my garden in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany. I planted the bulbs on November 8th, 2008 (not that I would remember the exact date, but I posted a photo on flickr that day: www.flickr.com/photos/dsungi/3012955781).

Well, today everything is covered under a 10-cm layer of snow again. No signs of spring or sprouts … but at least I know that they are out there, waiting for better days

Here is what k~owl wrote on the flickr post: January – the darkest and dreariest month of the year. Spring seems so far away, but today I felt like going outside and searching the garden for signs of spring. And lo and behold! I discovered the first shy daffodil sprouts cleaving through the dead leaves. A sign of hope!

If you click through to this photo on flickr, there is a second photo with more sprouts posted as a comment.

the happy monday bokeh…, originally uploaded by jotKa26.

Photographer jotKa26 took this remarkable image titled “The Happy Monday Bokeh” in Berlin near Kurfürstendamm while frost/winter is still showing up his ugly face…

jotKa26 continues: The daffodils were showing out in a small flower store between the skyscrapers of the New Kranzler Eck (http://www.qype.com/place/425995-Neues-Kranzler-Eck-Berlin/photos/633254).

Looking at the photographs taken by jotKa26 is an experience we look forward to repeating endlessly. Read through the exuberant testimonials, and then browse his remarkable stream of photos.

Is it spring yet?, originally uploaded by mutti2leif.

We wrote to the photographer, Cathy, to ask about the pair of photos posted from Germany: The first one was taken January 9, the morning after my husband brought them home for my son and me. It’s that point in the winter where you just have to be sure that spring is really on the way. My son, who is 3.5 years old, checked them religiously every day to see the flowers appear. We even measured them to make sure that they had grown.., he didn’t believe me that they were growing.

[continued next photo]

Same pot, different day, originally uploaded by mutti2leif.

Cathy, the photographer, continues this story of her son’s first daffodils: On the evening of January 13, he watered the plant and, I must admit that I was quite amazed to see blooms the next morning. The pic was taken up against my window to the backyard which was white with one of the only snowfalls that has stayed all winter.

Both pics were taken in my home in Bad Soden am Taunus, Germany.

I’ll keep my eyes open for more daffodils this spring!

Here is the first photo of the series.