mears garden: December 30, 2013-Daffodils-week 2

Winter is here. We had 6-7 inches of snow last weekend, while I was composing the opening post for this year’s contest. Then it was cold. Then it was sunny. There was some melting. Now it is cold again. I certainly spend a lot more time watching the 10 day forecast than I do during the non winter.
But the days are getting longer. They really are. You just can’t see it much. I left the office at the end of the day on Friday and there was a beautiful sunset. Working until it is pitch dark can be disturbing.

It was good to hear from so many of you this last week. Welcome aboard this ride through the dark times of winter. Images of crocuses certainly do lighten the day and the night.
(They do not do much to lighten the morning paper but I will try to avoid that subject as much as I can.)

Let me move on to the contest.
This last weeks voting had the striped crocus coming out on top. There was good support for all the contestants.
The full voting was:
Striped crocus 19
yellow crocus 14
white crocus 13
purple/tricolor 14

This week I am going to feature Daffodils. Here are the four contestants.

This is probably Pink Wonder. I try to keep up with the names of flowers in my garden. I have all those great labels in my garden. I mostly don’t label spring bulbs. The plants disappear byJune. It just doesn’t make sense to have labels where there is no plant. I suppose that is why we have computers. There must be limits to garden compulsion.

This is probably Actaea. What a wonderful colored center, surrounded by all that white.

This is Modern Art. This begins to give you an idea of how exotic daffodils can be. You can imagine those hybridizers working away on this wonderful ruffle.

No daffodil contest is complete without Rip Van Winkle. People always wonder if it really is a daffodil. It looks like a flower that got an electric charge. It could be something out of Dr. Suess.