"Wrap-up" of the 1999 Daffodil Season

The climate played a major role in the long 1999 daffodil season. We had an unusually mild, dry winter following an extended drought from June 1998 to December 1998, in the western Washington, DC area. During the following winter, the temperature did not drop below freezing other than overnight. We did not have a "killing frost" and by the end of February 1999, there was too much daffodil foliage showing at the top of the ground. In essence there was no real cold until March 1999, when the temperature stayed below freezing for about three weeks.

On March 14, 1999, my front garden beds looked like this from my driveway.

March, therefore, was our winter and kept the blooming season from being early. The cold March led to a cool April. When the bloom season started, it stretched out for nearly a month without giving me a "Full bloom" all at once. It just kept blooming a little at a time, mixing early and late daffodils across that time spectrum. The flip side of the coin is that this strange season gave me superior "quality" flowers across the season, but no great "quantity" at any one time.

By the first of April 1999, by front garden was beginning to look alive. This picture is the same as the 1st one above, just shot from 180 degrees or in reverse. Daffodils have started their growth. These are naturalized beds mostly with "quality" daffodils that are no longer in my show beds. After taking this picture while standing in my lawn, I turned and took the following picture which shows the contination of my front bed.

The front bed is about 200 feet long by 30 feet wide, and one shot with the camera doesn't seem to get it all, therefore this is the lower front bed, which was also getting off to a slow start. This front bed is divided in the middle by our walkway, and two "Star" Magnolia's, one on each side of the walk.

On March 24, 1999, our daffodil "show" garden (below) looked like this, some signs of promise, but nothing to get excited about. It was getting on to sundown when this picture was taken, and the shadows threw strange patterns across the beds.

The show beds were off to a slow start. It was "strange" to see the late, middle and early flowers all blooming at the same, but not "all" varieties at the same time. We had early flowers that bloomed lated, and some flowers that bloomed after the daffodil show season was over. It was a strang year for showing, but gave me daffodils from the first weekend of April until after the first weekend in May.