MOUNT VERNON, WASH. — To the casual observer, the arrival of spring is heralded by a familiar flash of bright, uniform yellow. For decades, the ubiquitous, trumpet-shaped daffodil has served as the default floral symbol of winter’s end—cheery, resilient, and often taken for granted. But inside the sprawling fields of…
For many, the first sign of spring is the sudden, defiant emergence of bright yellow trumpets poking through the thawing soil. Yet, to dismiss the Narcissus—commonly known as the daffodil—as a mere harbinger of warmer weather is to overlook one of the most diverse, resilient, and sophisticated genera in the…
If there is a single botanical mascot for the arrival of spring, it is the daffodil. Once dismissed by many as a pedestrian, ubiquitous staple of suburban landscaping, the Narcissus genus has undergone a radical transformation in the eyes of professional florists and home gardeners alike. What was once considered…
