Ken just e-mailed to ask if I wanted him to order some daffodil bouquets from the American Cancer Society, and I said yes! Of course! Because daffodils are one of my favorite flowers. I love that they're one of the first things to bloom. I love that they bloom in time for my late March birthday. I love that they were one of the few things the deer in Tuxedo Park didn't eat. I love that they're often fragrant. I love that they (at least the King Alfred variety) are so unapologetically, screamingly, in-your-facedly yellow.
And suddenly I'm spending this winter's afternoon thinking about flowers. Here's my list of faves. What does your list look like?
1. Peonies--my hands down favorite. In my next life I want to be a peony farmer, although I will only cultivate those with a heady scent.
2. Roses--my front yard is filled with Fragrant Cloud, which is a coral rose, touched by a sheen of blue.
3. Pansies--I have nothing but respect for this tough cheerful little customer. The orange shades smell best, but a yard full of sky blue pansies is heartbreakingly beautiful.
4. Iris--you see I have a fondness for the traditional, late-spring bloomers. When the air is warm, I want to lie down on the grass, close my eyes, and inhale clouds of iris.
5. Oriental poppies--Becky once said they were the dopiest plants on earth with their big hairy foilage and floppy stems. But who can resist the brilliant papery blooms? They only bloom for about a week. But I think they're worth waiting for.
And, of course, daffodils--soon appearing in a garden close to you!
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7 comments:
I love peonies, too. I also like freesia, especially white freesia, buttercups, and wild flowers.
I love honeysuckle. I wish my skin naturally exuded that smell, I really do.
Oh I cannnnnooootttt wait for flowers. I am in love with roses, especially old fashioned dark dark red ones. And I love any blue flower whatsoever, especially delphinium and larkspur, which I have successfully grown exactly one time. Pansies yes forever. And blue flax--I love how wavy headed they are and how they last and last and last.
And those tiny purple Siberian Squill that precede the daffodils some years.
If you're interested in the Language of Flowers, you might check out my YA novel, FORGET-HER-NOTS (Greenwillow/ HarperCollins, 2010) in which the language comes magically alive in the hands of a 14 year old girl. I frequently demonstrate how to incorporate the language of flowers into your own life and recently appeared at the US Botanic Garden for Valentine's Day.
Vanessa Diffenbaugh also has a novel, THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS, which came out in 2011.
Sweet basil for best wishes,
Amy (Brecount White)
My favorites are columbines. They have so many different color combinations, and they're all lovely. I have a hearty respect for pansies too, largely because a whole bunch of them survived me. (They also featured in my Mormon Lit Blitz entry, but they didn't get much respect there.)
sun flower
kbri
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