Signs of Spring ~ Daffodils and Crocus

I feel like a lethargic bear coming out of my den after a long winter.   I recently learned that bears do not sleep the entire winter and actually move about and take care of their cubs. New research ”has led some biologists to differentiate between the hibernation of, say, jumping mice and the ‘winter lethargy’ of bears.”  Article here.  During the dark, rainy days of January, I always look forward to the daffodils blooming in February as the first sign of spring.   Even the bears do not hibernate as long here as they do in the north.

Yesterday my 6-year-old son surprised me with three daffodils he picked from our yard.  It made my day!   Especially after being cooped with sick kids and barely going outside all week.  A couple of days ago I woke up at 4:00 a.m. bursting with energy and spent at least 5 hours cleaning.  Then, there are daffodils.  There is something to it.  I just know it.  There is something in the air. Even the plants know it is time to grow again.

 Then the boys picked Cicely Mary Barker’s pop-up book ”How to Find Flower Fairies” for our read-aloud.  It further inspired us to go for a nature walk to look for signs of spring.  Or so I thought.  My son informed me that we are looking for signs of fairy homes NOT signs of spring.  In case you think my son is girly for liking fairies, I should tell you there are boy nature fairies that look much like Peter Pan with acorn tops and berry husks for hats.  Gender issues aside, it is a wonderful way for children to take notice of nature and to increase their powers of observation.

When we heard a squirrel call, we knew from the instructions in the book that fairies must live nearby because the squirrels will warn them when humans are too close.  We also saw large holes in the earth that my son insisted were fairy hotels because there were no animal tracks near the hole.  I found some buds from a tree lying on the ground and he said I should leave them because the fairies will find a use for them.  I want to know the name of this particular tree so I quietly kept them.

I feel I should know more names of plants, trees and animals if I am going to homeschool using the Charlotte Mason method.  Then I remember that Charlotte suggested that we not lecture the children, especially while in nature, and to only occasionally bring something to their attention (Volume 1).  Thanks to the possibility of finding fairies, my son can barely contain his excitement at his discoveries. He says, “look, look, look” and grows impatient if I linger too long taking photographs.  I figure we will learn the names one plant or tree at a time, even if I have to hide the sample in my pocket lest I be accused of stealing from the fairies.  In the meantime, we are enjoying our fairies and learning to love poetry and nature.  Here is a beautiful example:

Out of the frozen earth below,
Out of the melting of the snow,
    No flower, but a film, I push to light;
No stem, no bud yet I have burst
The bars of winter, I am the first
    O Sun, to greet thee out of the night!

Deep in the warm sleep underground
Life is still, and the peace profound:
Yet a beam that pierced, and a thrill
    that smote
Call’d me and drew me from far away;
I rose, I came, to the open day
    I have won, unshelter’d, alone, remote.
                     –  “THE CROCUS,”
                          HARRIET E. H. KING

By the way, the crocus are also blooming.  Most of the trees are beginning to bud. I can see the first sliver of bright pink in the buds on the camellia bush. 

 In the grass there are tiny, white daisies (pretty weeds)

 and tiny, purple flowers which could be Dog Violet.  

Paper whites are blooming in the beds along the side of the house. 

The leaves are appearing on the hydrangea bush.  

I also got a beautiful photograph of the catkins on the mystery tree. 

I realize how little I know about nature and had to do some research for this blog post.  The spring poems and beautiful drawings by Cicely Mary Barker in “The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies“ helped me identify the dog violets and gave us a lead on the tree catkins.  It could be a pussy willow tree but my husband thinks it is an alder.  We will have to wait until the leaves appear.  I found the paper whites in “The Handbook of Nature Study” by Anna Botsford Comstock which is a wonderful resource at nearly 900 pages.   The illustrations are black and white so I also google images.  It’s available for free if you should choose to upload it or buy it already printed.   I do plan to post excerpts to go along with our discoveries….that is, if I know the name to look it up. 

The Lessons are for older children or adults.  Young children might also enjoy a few of the suggestions, if the teacher is careful to notice waning interest and end the lesson before the children tire of it (Volume 1).   We have a Blister Microscope and next week we will view the pussy willow catkins, one dry and one wet, along with other small buds and leaves we can find.  Please come back in a few days to check out my next post which will be about Enjoying Nature Close Up.

Handbook of Nature Study, Page 547

THE CROCUS
     The crocus, like the snowdrop, cannot
wait for the snow to be off the ground
before it pushes up its gay blossoms, and
it has thus earned the gratitude of those
who are winter weary.
     The crocus has a corm instead of a bulb
like the snowdrop or daffodil. A corm is
a solid, thickened, underground stem, and
is not in layers, like the onion. The roots
come off the lower side of the corm. The
corm of the crocus is well wrapped in
several, usually five, white coats with papery
tips. When the plant begins to grow
The leaves push up through the coats. The
leaves are grass like and may be in number
from two to eight, depending on the
variety. Each leaf has its edge folded, and
the white midrib has a plait on either
side, giving it the appearance of being box
plaited on the under side. The bases of
the leaves enclosed in the corm coats are
yellow, since they have had no sunlight
to start their starch factories and the
green within their cells. At the center of
the leaves appear the blossom buds, each
enclosed in a sheath.
     The petals and sepals are similar in
color, but the three sepals are on the outside,
and their texture, especially on the
outer side, is coarser than that of the
three protected petals. But sepals and petals
unite into a long tube at the base. At
the very base of this corolla-tube; away
down out of sight, even below the surface
of the ground, is the seed box, or ovary.
From the tip of the ovary the style
extends up through the corolla-tube
and is tipped with a ruffled three-lobed
stigma.
     The three stamens are set at the throat
of the corolla-tube. The anthers are very
long and open along the sides. The anthers
mature first, and shed their pollen
in the cup of the blossom where any insect,
seeking the nectar in the tube of
the corolla, must become dusted with it.
However, if the stigma lobes fail to get
pollen from other flowers, they later spread
apart and curl over until they reach some
of the pollen of their own flower.
     Crocus blossoms have varied colors:
white, yellow, orange, purple, the latter
often striped or feather-veined. And while
many seeds like tiny pearls are developed
in the oblong capsule, yet it is chiefly
by its corms that the crocus multiplies.
On top of the mother corm of this year
develop several small corms, each capable
of growing a plant next year. But after
two years of this second-story sort of
multiplication the young crocuses are pushed
above the surface of the ground. Thus,
they need to be replanted every two or
three years. Crocuses maybe planted from
the first of October until the ground
freezes. They make pretty borders to
garden beds and paths. Or they may be
planted in lawns without disturbing the
grass, by punching a hole with a stick or
dibble and dropping in a corm and then
pressing back the soil in place above it.
The plants will mature before the grass
needs to be mowed.

LESSON 149
THE CROCUS

     LEADING THOUGHT The crocus blossoms
appear very early in the spring, because
the plants have food stored in underground
storehouses. Crocuses multiply by
seeds and by corms.
     METHOD If it is possible to have crocuses
in boxes in the schoolroom windows,
the flowers may thus best be studied.
Otherwise, when crocuses are in bloom
bring them into the schoolroom, corms
and all, and place them where the children
may study them at leisure.
     OBSERVATIONS  At what date in
the spring have you found crocuses in
blossom? Why are they able to blossom
so much earlier than other flowers?
     2. Take a crocus just pushing up out
of its corm. How many overcoats protect
its leaves? What is at the very center of
the corm? Has the flower bud a special
overcoat?
     3. Describe the leaves. How are they
folded in their overcoats? What color are
they where they have pushed out above
their overcoats? What color are they
within the overcoats?
     4. Do the flowers or the leaves have
stems, or do they arise directly from the
corm?
     5. What is the shape of the open crocus
flower? Can you tell the difference between
sepals and petals in color? Can you
tell the difference by their position? Or
by their texture above or below? As you
look into the flower, which makes the
points of the triangle, the sepals or the
petals?
     6. Describe the anthers. How long are
they? How many are there? How do they
open? What is the color of the pollen?
Describe how a bee becomes dusted with
pollen. Why does the bee visit the crocus
blossom? If she finds nectar there, where
is it?
     7. Describe the stigma. Open a flower
and see how long the style is. How do the
sepals and petals unite to protect the
style? Where is the seed box? Is it so far
down that it is below ground? How many
seeds are developed from a single blossom?
     8. How many colors do you find in the
crocus flowers? Which are the prettiest
in the lawn? Which In the flower beds?
     9. How do the crocus blossoms act in
dark and stormy weather? When do they
open? How does this benefit them?
     10. How do the crocus corms multiply?
Why do they often need resetting?
     11 . Describe how to raise crocuses best:
the kind of soil, the time of planting, and
the best situations.
THE DAFFODILS AND THEIR RELATIVES

Daffydown Dilly came up in the cold from the brown mold,
Although the March breezes blew keen in her face,
Although the white snow lay on many a place.

     Thus it is that Miss Warner’s stanzas
tell us the special reason we so love the
daffodils. They bring the sunshine color
to the sodden earth, when the sun is chary
of his favors in our northern latitude; and
the sight of the daffodils floods the spirit
with a sense of sunlight.
     The daffodils and their relatives, the
jonquils and narcissuses, are interesting
when we stop to read their story in their
form. The six segments of the perianth,
or, as we would say, the three bright-colored
sepals and the three inner petals of
the flower, are different in shape; but they
all look like petals and stand out in star shape
around the flaring end of the flower tube,
which, because of its shape, is called
the corona, or crown; however, it looks
more like a stiff little petticoat extending
out in the middle of the flower than it
does like a crown. When we look down
into the crown of one of these flowers,
we see the long style with its three-lobed
stigma pushing out beyond the anthers,
which are pressed close about it at the
throat of the tube; between each two anthers
may be seen a little deep passage,
through which the tongues of the moth
or butterfly can be thrust to reach the
nectar. In a tube, slit open, we can see
the nectar at the very bottom; it is sweet
to the taste and has a decided flavor.
In this open tube we may see that the
filaments of the stamens are grown fast
to the sides of the tube for much of their
length, enough remaining free to press
the anthers close to the style. The ovary
of the pistil is a green swelling at the
base of the tube; by cutting it across we
can see that it is triangular in outline, and
has a little cavity in each angle large
enough to hold two rows of the little,
white, shining, unripe seeds. Each of these
cavities is partitioned from the others by
a green wall.
     When the flower stalk first appears, it
comes up like a sheathed sword, pointing
toward the zenith, green, veined lengthwise,,
and with a noticeable thickening at
each edge. As the petals grow? the sheath
begins to round out; the stiff stem at the
base of the sheath bends at right angles.
This brings a strain upon the sheath which
bursts it, usually along the upper side, although
sometimes it tears it off completely
at the base. The slitted sheath, or spathe,
hangs around the stem, wrinkled and
parchment-like, very like the loose wrist
of a suede glove. The stalk is a strong
green tube; the leaves are fleshy and are
grooved on the inner side. At the base
the groove extends part way around the
Flower stalk. The number of leaves varies
with the variety, and they are usually as
tall as the flower stalk. There is one flower
on a stalk in the daffodils and the poet’s
narcissus, but the jonquils and paper white
narcissus have two or more flowers
on the same stalk.
     A bed should be prepared by digging
deep and fertilizing with stable manure.
The bulbs should be planted in September
or early October, and should be from
four to six inches apart, the upper end of
the bulbs at least four inches below the
surface of the soil. They should not be
disturbed but allowed to occupy the bed
for a number of years, or as long as they
give plenty of flowers. As soon as the
surface of the ground is frozen in the
winter, the beds should be covered from
four to six inches in depth with straw mixed
stable manure, which can be raked
off very early in the spring.
     The new bulbs are formed at the sides
of the old one; for this reason the daffodils
will remain permanently planted, and
do not lift themselves out of the ground
like the crocuses. The leaves of the plant
should be allowed to stand as long as they
will after the flowers have disappeared
so that they may furnish the bulbs with
plenty of food for storing. The seeds
should not be allowed to ripen, as it costs
the plant too much energy and thus robs
the bulbs. The flowers should be cut just
as they are opening. Of the white varieties,
the poet’s narcissus is the most satisfactory,
as it is very hardy and very pretty, its
corona being a shallow, flaring, greenish
yellow rosette with orange-red border,
the anthers of its three longest stamens
making a pretty center. No wonder
Narcissus bent over the pool in joy at view-
ing himself, if he was as beautiful a man
as the poet’s narcissus is a flower.

LESSON 150
DAFFODILS, JONQUILS, AND NARCISSUSES
LEADING THOUGHT The daffodil jonquil,
and narcissus are very closely related,
and quite similar. They all come from
bulbs which should be planted in September;
but after the first planting, they
will flower on year after year, bringing
much brightness to the gardens in the
early spring.
     METHOD The flowers brought to
school may be studied for form, and there
should be a special study of the way the
flower develops its seed, and how it is
propagated by bulbs. The work should
lead directly to an interest in the cultivation
of the plants. In seedsmen’s catalogues
or other books, the children will
find methods of planting and cultivating
these flowers in cities. Daffodils are
especially adapted for both window gardens
and school gardens.
     OBSERVATIONS  Note the shape of
the flower. Has it any sepals? Can you see
any difference in color, position, and texture
between the petals and sepals?
     2. How do the petal-like parts of these
flowers look? How many of them are
there? Do they make the most showy
part of the flower?
     3. What does the central part of the
flower look like? Why is it called the
corona, or crown? Peel the sepals and petals
off one flower, and see that the tube
is shaped like a trumpet.
     4. Look down into the crown of the
flower and tell what you see. Can you see
where the insect’s tongue must go to
reach the nectar?
     5. Cut open a trumpet lengthwise to
find where the nectar is. How far is it
from the mouth of the tube? How long
would the Insect’s tongue have to be to
reach It? What insects have tongues as
long as this?
     6. In order to reach the nectar how
would an Insect become dusted with pollen?
Are the stamens loose in the flower tube?
Is the pistil longer than the stamens?
How many parts to the stigma? Can you
see how the flowers are arranged so that
insects can carry pollen from flower to
flower?
     7. What is the green swelling in the
stem at the base of the trumpet? Is It
connected with the style? Cut it across
and describe what you see. How do the
young seeds look and how are they arranged?
     8. Where the flower stalk joins the
stem, what do you see? Are there one or
more flower stalks coming from this
spathe?
     9. Describe the flower stalk. Are the
leaves wide or narrow? Are they as long
as the flower stalk, are they flat, or are
they grooved?
     10. What are the differences between
daffodils, jonquils, and poet’s narcissus?
When should the bulbs for these flowers
be planted? Will there be more bulbs
formed around the one you plant? Will
the same bulb ever send up flowers and
leaves again? How do the bulbs divide to
make new bulbs?
     11. How should the bed for the bulbs
be prepared? How near together should
the bulbs be planted? How deep in the
earth? How can they be protected during
the winter?
     12. Why should you not cut the leaves
off after the flowers have died? Why
should you not let the seeds ripen? When
should the flowers be cut for bouquets?
Who was Narcissus, and why should these
early spring flowers be named after him?