daffodils, originally uploaded by Jessamyn T.
This January 16, 2009 photo originally appeared on Jessamyn’s garden blog, Jessamyn’s Garden. Jessamyn tells us: The photo was taken in my small urban garden in Mount Vernon, WA, with a macro lens, and the daffodils appear to be some King Alfred type, but I’m not sure of the variety because they came with the house. They’re very tall and sturdy when they bloom.
Archive for January, 2009
New Daffodils in Mount Vernon, Washington
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009Green Shoots and Tag in Melbourn, England
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
The photographer innpictime took this photo on January 11, 2009. He added the following comment to the flickr post: Wild daffodil shoots appearing. Spring is in sight! (I was going to title this “The Baroness Woz ‘Ere” but then thought that was a little unfair! Green shoots news story.)
Innpictime added the following details for us: The photo was taken at the bottom of my back garden in Melbourn, 10 miles south of Cambridge, England.
Off topic, but we have to share this with you –> Innpictime was tagged in the Flickr 16 questions tag game, his Flickr post is a must see, including the comments and photos. Photos were masterfully composed and processed in the darkroom by his mother. We can see he has the photography gene in this comment on a photo taken at Broadstairs 1962: My father took this with my Brownie box camera (you’ll recognise that low angle as he held it against his stomach [I must get it out again - I've still got it!]). Mother, at this time, was using an Ilford Advocate, a camera that she loved. It had a white body which made it very stylish and inconspicuous as a camera when most were black (there is one in the Science Museum). I remember it had a heavy body but was very nice to handle. She moved on to an old Leica…
Child’s First Daffodils in Bad Soden am Taunus, Germany
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
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]
Child’s First Daffodils in Germany, continued
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
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.
水仙 From the Ground Up on Chinese New Year
Monday, January 26th, 2009
Here is a bulb’s eye view of the daffodils on Chinese New Year’s day. Image was taken by Yalin on January 26, 2009. See the two next posts for more on these daffodils.
Yalin has also sent us these links to a gallery on Picasa (found via a Google search). Photos were posted on January 24, 2009, by photographer Rosa:
picasaweb.google.com/rosacmail/06Rosa#
picasaweb.google.com/rosacmail/07Rosa#
水仙 CNY Daffodils
Monday, January 26th, 2009
水仙, originally uploaded by Black Angel ❤.
Photographer Yalin has posted a new photo of her daffodils taken today on January 26, 2009 – Chinese New Year (see below post for the original photo and description). We wrote to hear a little bit more about the tale of the daffodil in Chinese tradition:
There are two tales. I try to translate them for you.
ONE:
In Chinese tale, the daffodils are the avatar of infant EHuang & NvYing. It is said that Emperor Yao have two daughters who are named Ehuang and NvYing. Both Ehuang and NvYing married to the same husband emperor Shun. When the shun die, the Ehuang and NvYing suicide beside the Xiang river for the love. Then their fetches became the daffodils.
TWO:
In the Jiangzhou city of Fujian province, there is a village is called CaiBan It is a countrywoman who is very kind came across a beggar who hardly died of hungry. But no one knew the beggar is a god. The countrywoman picked him back to her room. And then serve him a bowl of rice. The beggar spit the rice from his mouth suddenly. And the rice became the daffodils.
I am sorry for I can’t translate well. I think you will understand clearlier now. LOL~
Happy Chinese New Year, The Year of the Ox
Sunday, January 25th, 2009
daffodil, originally uploaded by Black Angel ❤ ….
We recently learned that the daffodil is a traditional part of the celebration of the Chinese New Year. When we saw the above photograph, taken with a mobile phone in Canton on January 25, 2009, we wrote to the photographer Yalin to ask about the daffodil in China. Yalin, who is a law student, explains in splendid scholarly detail:
Happy Chinese new year . I am pleasure to answer your question.
Yes. Daffodil is an important flower in Chinese New Year tradition. Er… I think every family would like to buy it during that time. That is for the flower means lucky, elegance, beauty… It’s Chinese name is “ fairy in the water” for there is a tale. The tale says infant died for love beside the river. After that, she became the flower.
Daffodil is not from a garden nursery or a store. Following is the introduce,
1. We buy the daffodil root. And then put it into the basin which is full of water. In order to make the flower erect, we will put some stone into the basin.
Pic: botu.bokee.com/photodata/2007-1-4/000/533/764/5317702/5317702_l.jpg
www1.sekst.edu.hk/subject/pta/photo/ptan4.jpg
Hey, do you now have a question why don’t grow it in the earth? LOL… There is two reasons:
One is for it will be more beautiful when grow in the water. Think, we would like to put it in our living room.
The other is it will be grow fast when grow it in the water. Of course, we have to make sure it can live in the warm circumstance.
If you want to grow it in the earth, you must make sure the earth is humid.
2. After about one month. Of course it depends on the circumstances. It can be abloom.
Pic: dl.zhishi.sina.com.cn/upload/94/20/84/1215942084.8154285.jpg
farm1.static.flickr.com/4/5958633_90a64a805b.jpg
I know the daffodil is from Middle Eur., Med and north Africa. And it have some mutation in CHN. There is the two kinds of this flower:
Single leaves: imgsrc.baidu.com/baike/pic/item/a992e31f7d65f41c304e15cc.jpg
Multiplex leaves: imgsrc.baidu.com/baike/pic/item/08b68e52df1190130cf3e3f6.jpg
I am sorry for my poor English. And I am not the major. So …I hope that will not make you confused and the information can help you.
Yalin, we understand your English perfectly and admire your attention to detail. We give you an A+ on this daffodil essay! Happy New Year to all.
Memory and Rebirth in Homewood, Alabama
Sunday, January 25th, 2009
We wrote to the photographer, Cindy, to ask if we could post this January 23 2009 photo on our blog, and to find out the story behind the daffodils and the berries in the photo. Read on, for a timeless tale of connection and rebirth.
Thank you for asking, because these are such special daffodils!
25 years ago, my parents sold the house and land that were my childhood home near Birmingham, Alabama. They had built the house right after WWII, on land that been given to them by my mother’s father. At the time the place was sold, I was a young twentysomething, busy with my life and my first apartment. I deeply loved the old home place, but didn’t think as much about leaving some things behind as I did in later years.
When I bought my own house (Wren’s Nest Cottage, Homewood, Alabama) in 1997, it really made me begin to think about what I had taken for granted about my old home. I remembered the drystone walls my father built, and my mother’s lovely flowers and shrubs. So…a few years back, my sisters and I went back to the old place. The house had tumbled down, and the lawns and the hill behind the house had been completely reclaimed by the forest. Our goal was to secure some stones from the old walls to use in our gardens, but we found something else, equally wonderful – Mama’s daffodils were blooming thick amongst the undergrowth. We dug up a bucketful, wondering if they’d survive being transplanted while in bloom. As you can see, they are thriving! And the red berries are from my mother’s nandina bush. My sister pulled up a wee one almost as an afterthought while we were gathering the daffodil bulbs. It is now waist high and gives us many baby nandinas every year. And yes, we did get lots of lovely old stones for our gardens as well.
So please feel free to use my photo – I’m grateful to you for asking. It gave me a tear and a smile to remember. My parents have both passed on, but I have much love and beauty from their lives to fondly recall.
Birthday Daffodils in Bristol, England
Saturday, January 24th, 2009
We asked photographer Toni Thorne about these daffodils and this highly artistic photo. Says Toni: The photo was taken on January the 17th 2009 at my home in Bristol UK. The Daffodils are bulbs I planted last spring, which have re-shooted this year. The shoots first appeared at the end of December which I was really surprised about. They are growing in a window box on my tiny little balcony at the top of a 3 story block of flats. The balcony is South East facing, so I guess all the daytime sunshine has encouraged them along.
Daffodils are one of my favourite plants, my birthday is in the Spring and the first daffodils of the year really do make me feel positive about becoming another year older.
Early Daffodil in Doncaster, England (in a pot)
Saturday, January 24th, 2009
This daffodil in the north of England appears to have a jump on spring. Well, as photographer Theresa Elvin explains: Daffodils do not usually bloom here until March, but this little flower was grown in a pot in a greenhouse, so it has arrived earlier.
This cheerful image was taken on January 18, 2009.
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