My color preferences in the garden change with the season. I adore this color yellow in the early spring, but I can't tolerate it any other time of year. This must be caused by some sort of innate reaction to the lack of sunshine from being cooped up all winter.
The only flowers that existed when we moved here were a row of daffodils planted along our front fence by the road. Every year, I plant more around the property ... adding daffodil bulbs on our side of the front fence, in the Noisette border, with the azaleas by the driveway, and other places. One can never have too many daffodils!
See the edge of the road in the background?
Last year, I took advantage of the fall clearance sale at Brent and Becky's Bulbs, and I came home with a wonderful assortment of daffodils. Most of the ones I bought bloom after the plain yellow ones, so I can stretch the season a bit.
Critters won't eat daffodil bulbs or flowers, so I find ancient clumps of them at many of the abandoned old house sites I visit. When these sites are threatened, I dig the bulbs up and relocate them to my yard and I share them with friends.
My very favorite daffodil is one that the locals call 'Butter and Eggs'. Scott Kunst at Old House Gardens says that these are actually 'Van Sion' (also known as 'Telamonius Plenus’) a double daffodil from 1620. These multiply happily completely untended by humans. They bloom a bit later than many other daffodils ... this one must be in a really warm spot in the garden because it's already starting to open. (It's fragrant, too.)
The other sunny yellow in the garden is the forsythia. I don't have any of my own. This one belongs to my neighbor, but it's planted adjacent to my rambler fence and I enjoy its sunny color.
Blooming forsythia means that it's pruning time around here! I expect to get started on this in earnest next week. Woo hoo, spring is here ... it's time for me to sharpen the pruners and gather a matching pair of gloves, because I have a lot of work to do.
