It's daffodil time in Kentucky
Spring beauties glowing in bright sunlightFloridata's daffodil page says that common names for Narcissus spp. include daffodil, narcissus, jonquil, Lent lily, Easter flower, and butter-cup. In fact, there are so many different sorts of Narcissus that botanists divide them into 13 different categories.
To me, light-colored daffodils (like those in the photo) are "jonquils." I have no scientific reason for giving them that name. It's just my way of distinguishing them from the yellow-blooming ones which I call "daffodils."
Here in Kentucky, many people refer to the little old-time yellow daffodils as "buttercups." In early spring, buttercups pop up and bloom in many places where the houses have been gone for untold years. They're a memorial to gardeners whom we never knew.
My dad and I try to sort out the names, "jonquil", "daffodil", and "narcissus" nearly every spring because we can never remember the distinctions for all those months. To us, a "buttercup" is not related to the daffodil family. "Buttercup" is a small simple orange-yellow flower with round petals on a short, skinny stem. It resembles a strawberry blossom.
ReplyDeleteActually, it gives me a guilty conscience to use the name "buttercup" for a daffodil because that name already belongs to a little Nebraska wildflower in my mind -- perhaps the same one you're talking about. I would know it if I saw it. :)
ReplyDeleteIn the woods behind our house in Falls Church, VA a patch of flowers came up every spring near a mimosa tree. None of these plants were native to the area. While digging in that area one year, my dad and I came upon what looked like blocks remaining from an old foundation. Your post about flowers coming up where old homes had stood reminded me of that discovery. I used to wonder what happened to the family that had lived there perhaps a hundred years or more in the past. Thank you for your thought-provoking posts.
ReplyDeleteYou caught them Gen.
ReplyDeleteJames
PS: Liked the verse of Romans that you directed me to. Just the guidance I needed.
Runaway, thanks for imagining that my posts are thought-provoking. :)
ReplyDeleteJames, I happened along at the very moment that the sun was shining right through those flowers. I still haven't decided if the shadows on some of the petals are cast from the front or from the back.
ReplyDelete