My Creative Blog [Search results for Daffodils] 

I stopped in at the flower farm yesterday. I thought for sure they would be open by now as I could see the the bright yellow daffodils smiling so happily out in the fields. But they're still busy with their spring yard work, getting ready for opening day the first week of April.
Nevertheless, the owner greeted me with a smile (I'm a loyal customer you see) and insisted that I take a pail (I happened to bring one along) and cut as many daffodils as I'd like (I had my clippers too). As she put it, she'd rather see them enjoyed than fade away out in the fields all alone (me too).
The fields felt so quiet compared to the time when all the flowers are growing here in the summer. But seeing the eager daffodils all bright eyed and bushy tailed against the slowly awakening landscape was a a good sign that more flowers are soon to follow....like these and these.

I love the bonnet-shaped face of this variety of daffodil. And there were lots of them....lots of smiling faces basking under the soft late winter sun.

The owner of the flower farm joined me out in the fields to pick a pail of her own so I was able to get some clarification on cutting daffodil and tulip stems for arrangements.
The gooey sap of the daffodil flower contains calcium oxalate crystals. When their stems are cut, the sap starts to flow and is poisonous to other cut flowers. If you'd like to mix daffodils with other cut flowers, you should soak the fresh cut daffodil stems over night (this makes the sap stop flowing). The next day, rinse the stems under water before putting them in the vase with the other flowers.
Also, the information I was given previously on not cutting your tulip stems was false. Tulips do not have the same toxic sap as daffodils and therefore are fine to cut and arrange with other flowers.

Since I've been in a tulip craze for the past several weeks (yes, more white tulips!), I did a little more research when I got home. I found that you should always re-cut your tulip stems. Cutting the stems opens up the flowers uptake channels allowing them to take in the water they need and therefore extending its vase life. It's also suggested that you refresh or change the water daily.
By far, the most fascinating realization I unearthed during my tulip research is that unlike other flowers, tulips continue to grow after they've been cut. They also tend to grow towards sources of light, which is why tulips seem to arrange themselves (they're interior designers at heart) in the vase.
Another way of looking at it was explained by David Caras of the Netherlands Flower Bulb Center in New York City. As he put it, tulips prefer to "dance in the vase." Unlike other flowers, "they refuse to stand still."
I just love that.

D affodils are out! At least at our local grocery store. There's nothing that makes the dining room brighter than a dozen are so smiling daffodils.

We spend a lot of time in our dining room. We enjoy our meals there of course. Since we expanded the table, we've also been using it for many other pursuits. The large flat workspace has proven great for sewing projects, wrapping gifts, sorting through piles of paper in preparing our taxes, and Mike even used it recently to assemble a poster for a work conference.
However, the most wonderful thing about the expanded table is that there is plenty of room for two bouncy chairs! This allows us to be able to sit down to meals — together — much more often. Although this has always been important to us, it became harder to do with two newborn sweetie pie babies. xo
The babies gaze up at the chandelier as if it were a large mobile. When their interest begins to wane, we adjust the dimmer which creates different sparkles and hues. With all that gazing, I've had to put 'dust and clean chandelier' on my to do list.

Happy daffodils (even the grocery store variety) to you!

I'm thinking spring. It's hard not to (despite the snow) when you see bouquets of tulips and daffodils in the grocery store. So I've gathered some photos I took of the flowers we enjoyed last year to tide me through the next couple of months of winter.

The first spring flowers that grace our land are the blossoming fruit trees — they are absolutely breathtaking.

These were the first peonies I clipped at the flower farm. They were so gorgeous and delicate and their pink blossoms enormous!

We have some very old lilac bushes that probably need some serious pruning. They are a bit tattered and worse for wear, but still produce the most fragrant smelling flowers. I take this as my cue to gather them up in bunches and spread them throughout the house.

This was the bouquet I was most proud of last summer as it was the very first clipping from our newly planted rose and peony bushes.

These are the first clippings from the Little Lamb Hydrangea bushes I planted.

These are also Little Lamb Hydrangea but were clipped towards the end of summer, after they turned from milky white to a blushing pink.

And these were the last of the rose clippings before the frost came and lulled everything to sleep.
I've missed my petaled friends and can't wait to see them again this spring.

We're having a warm spell these last few days, and it is making me all the more hungry for spring. Our local grocery has been keeping beautiful spring flowers in stock, and I'm rarely able to resist bringing home an armful of fresh blossoms.
This week it's lilies.

Last week it was daffodils.

The week before that, white tulips.

....and here's the last of the white tulips as they were beginning to fade.
We had a busy weekend as we finally began our 'renovation' of the old sauna. This includes (present tense -we're still working on it!) removing the old steam benches (to be recycled into shelving), and prepping (with primer and spackle) and painting the wall boards. Like all projects, it's taking forever, it's hard work and we probably won't be done until next weekend — photos to follow!
Off to paint! By writing this, I'm hoping that it motivates me to actually go out there and paint.
PS. We didtake breaks to celebrate Valentine's Day with a couple of date nights, and a lovely fireside french toast breakfast on Valentine's Day morning!