The 9/11 Daffodil Project
Regular readers will know that friends (new and old) are a big part of Our Plant Stories, sometimes known as the Potting Shed Crew but to be honest there are so many of you now, I am not sure we are all going to fit into a potting shed!
The photograph below which I used on this week’s episode page is taken by an old friend Hilary…I wrote one of my first blog posts sat on a bench in Norfolk whilst she captured the early morning light. Hilary is a wonderful photographer and you can see more of her work here.
The 9/11 memorial on a January day in New York
I had been searching for a photograph for the episode page about the ‘ribbon of yellow around Manhattan’ but one of the issues of sharing this episode about daffodils in February is that of course they are not yet out, well certainly not in New York! I am really hoping that I will be able to share some photos of the daffodils when they do emerge and again another friend, this one a new one, David Gedye from the Monkey Puzzle tree, emailed me this morning to say that his son works in New York and he has commissioned him to go in search of the daffodils for us in Spring. As we say in this household: teamwork is dreamwork!
I do hope that if you haven’t yet had a chance to listen to this first episode of series 3, you will do so and let me know what you think. I found myself walking in my local park yesterday where crocus and snowdrops and daffodils are appearing, and thinking that these spring flowers are such signs of hope. I can only imagine what it must have been like when the ribbon of yellow around New York began to appear the spring after the tragedy of 9/11.
In other podcast news, last night I had a lovely call with Harvey in Louisiana. He’s normally in New Orleans but had headed to the country to be ‘off grid’ as he put it but luckily the librarians in a small town library managed to get us linked up despite a few initial technical problems. I had been looking forward to the call all day because Harvey knows about the Bald Cypress. In fact for the past 20 odd years he has been tracking down Bald Cypress trees that were alive in 1803 at the time of the Louisiana purchase from France. If you listen to the series trailer you too will understand why this is so exciting!
A beautiful story about the Tulip tree which will take me to Kew gardens has been confirmed. I have written about this tree before on the blog because there is a stunning one in the Inner Temple gardens. And finally my niece messaged me from a work trip in South Africa because a casual conversation at a dinner table might just be about to lead us to another incredible plant story.
Next week I am off to see a national collection of snowdrops held at Thenford Arboretum. I am very excited though I figure Galanthus lovers must spend a lot of time on their hands and knees on the cold, damp grass, photographing these beautiful flowers. On Wednesday evening I attended an online Plant Heritage talk given by Jimi Blake and it turns out that he also loves and now collects snowdrops. By the end of the evening I was checking out where to buy some more snowdrops in the green because although I do have some and they have been gently spreading, I think they need some reinforcements. At the Museum of Homelessness, Jess has ordered 2000 snowdrops, to plant in the garden, I don’t think I need quite that many.
Jimi did also share some lovely plants to plant in and around the snowdrops and I thought I would share a couple of those with you in case you have some dappled shade and are feeling inspired to increase your snowdrop patch. He loves and collects Corydalis and loves the snowdrops growing amongst the emerging new foliage, suggesting Spinners Gold, Purple Bird or Chocolate Stars. He also mentioned Geranium phaeum ‘Lisa’ with snowdrops planted inbetween and Geranium maculatum ‘Expresso’ which also takes dry shade.
Hopefully I will do some recording in amongst the Galanthus in Thenford and perhaps I’ll be sharing that with you soon.
Have a lovely weekend
Sally
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