Although it’s been very drab and dreary here, the lovely bulbs of spring always lift my spirits. First a lovely poem about Daffodils then some interesting facts I just learned!
“Daffodils” (1804)
I WANDER’D lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch’d in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed — and gazed — but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
By William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
A friend mentioned jonquils on her FB and I responded that I love buttercups. Then I started thinking and realised that some people call buttercups jonquils. So I looked up “buttercup” on wiki only to find a different flower than I was thinking of. Wha?? So then I looked up “daffodil” on wiki. Hmm. Then I looked up “jonquil” and got the same thing! Wha??
As it turns out, all three of these flowers are different. A buttercup is a small poisonous wildflower, a daffodil is a type of narcissus and jonquil is a pure narcissus. Which explains the multiple flowers on the jonquil and the single flowers on the daffodils. Fascinating!
Yes, yes, I’m a nerd. :-)