Many of my friends sometimes find it hard to get in touch with me during the spring of the year. Don't they know that it is digging season? From early February to late May, I spend every minute I have going on drives looking for that house that is about to be destroyed to make way for the latest and greatest strip mall, gas station, subdivision, or new highway. Progress can be quite a pain, but for me, I look on it as an opportunity that would otherwise be missed.
Every evening and every morning as I drive to and from work my eyes are constantly scanning the roadsides for anything of color, or something rather dilapidated. The older the house and the worse condition it is in the better. Something will perk my interest then I will stop to investigate. First a leisurely walk around the site with camera or Ipod in hand. (a photo is a photo for documentation purposes) Sometimes I will walk the perimeter of a house and see nothing, other times, a gold mine! If there is a new plant, flower or the like I might take a cutting and some photographs of what and where, then back to the truck. If I deem the site a possibility its location get recorded with addresses and GPS coordinates in my handy dandy notebook! Everything I witnessed will be recorded in some fashion. If I believe the site to be in immanent danger I will immediately go knocking on neighbor doors. One thing I have been blessed with is a golden tongue when I need it. Turn on the charm and up on the doorstep I go. Many times I will walk away with either permission, stories about the old family that used to live there, or the current owners information. On the other hand though, If I deem the site safe and at little or no risk of danger it just gets recorded and on to the next one.
I have been amazed at the amount of flowers forgotten when the last family moved away and left neglected for the years. I would say that currently I have no fewer than 40 locations to be dug, some threatened, others not. If I was to dig each and every site, I would need a botanic garden to house it in to get the forgotten bulbs back on track with blooming cycles. Someone once told me that when some daffodils get left behind for so long they just forget that they are supposed to bloom. Getting them in the right locations and in the right soil can make the difference from blooming to BLOOMING!
I am always in a debate with myself, "Do I dig them now while access is good and before they get destroyed, or do I take a chance and wait till they die back and dig them then.?"It is always a tough call. Whatever I dig, if it is still green it goes either in a holding bed or in a pot. Unfortunately, I am running out of space for both.
Little did I know last spring that this would be so lucrative for me and so easy to find new things. Growing up, daffodils, or yellow jonquils as they were called (a misnomer) all looked exactly the same. they were yellow and grew everywhere, so why were they any good? Only after getting involved and getting to know the history of them did the yellow start dividing into an infinite shade of colors and cups. Like starting any sort of a collection, the more you look, do your research, and find, the more you understand. Although, I am at a point where the more I understand the more I realize how little I really know.
There are two quotes that I heard while keeping bees for a few years that can apply to daffodils and in general heirloom plants. The first is ( substitute beekeeper for flower nut) "You can have ten beekeepers in a room and get twelve opinions!" and finally I think perhaps Sue Hubbell said in her book, "I knew more about beekeeping the first year than any year after that. The more I learn the more the bees show me how little I really know" OH, how true that is to me.
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