Creeping Spring

Spring is creeping along up here.  Just creeping.  But that's OK, because the weather (while a mite chilly for the Snow Birds recently returned from Florida) has been perfectly delicious!  This could go on for several more weeks with no complaints from my quarter.

My daffodils continue to make a lovely display, although they are starting to fade a bit.  I'm not sure what cultivars are represented — probably Narcissus "Home Depot" would be the best description.  This summer I'll see what the catalogs have to offer for fall planting.

Alas, my daffodils are starting to fade.

Did I mention that our home south of Cleveland had been previously owned by a landscape architect.  He planted hundreds of daffodil bulbs just off the front lawn, creating a magical display each spring.  Reading online, I find that "daffodil" probably derives from the term affodell combined with the Dutch article de, as in De affodell.  In earlier centuries this flower was called "Daffadown Dilly."  I think I prefer daffodil.

Also coming into bloom are my Grape Hyacinth, another "Home Depot Special."  I quite like these flowers, although a number of people detest them with considerable fervor.  They spread with abandon.  I recall a large house on Lake Shore Drive in Grosse Point Shores where the surrounding hedge is awash each spring in drifts of Muscari (from the Greek muschos, or musk, reflecting the scent of some cultivars).  I always found that display quite lovely.

The Grape Hyacinth are peaking.

Muscari are native to Eurasia, especially the Mediterranean area.  These pale to dark blue flowers are part of the lily family, and some varieties are toxic in eaten.  I suppose it doesn't help that they look like little popsicles. •••