Brielle's Avalon

Happiness in the garden

Every year I worry, did the jonquils survive the summer? Every year they pop up in the fall. We bought this house in august 1997, moved in the day Princess Diana died. By late September or early October, in a small part of the front garden green things sprang up. I let them go, curious to see what they were. Eventually they flowered. Jonquils! Small, delicate daffodils! I put in the garden in front of the front porch and decided they’d do better there. They seem to like it. Not only have they survived, they’ve multiplied.

This year I had to reclaim that garden. Life happened and Bermuda grass took over, strangling everything but a miniature rose and a chocolate flower. I was again concerned for my sweet bulbs. 5 days of digging and pounding dirt from roots and tossing rhizomes aside and I finally got to the back of the garden by the porch. With every shovelful they came.

Jonquils coming up with every shovelful

It’s easy to mistake them for just another dirt clod, but they call to me. I pile them on the porch until it’s time to re-set them. Some have even started to sprout, so this year I’m just in time.

Set aside til I can replant them.

Every jonquil reminds me of a friend Dad and Lisa and I sang with in the choir at SCC. Jonquil was small and sweet and gay (in the best old-fashioned sense) and simply sparkled as a person. A delight to be around. I didn’t know her well, so after I left the choir I lost touch. Then I took a karate class. One of my classmates was Elleston Trevor. Jonquil’s husband and if you’ve seen Flight of the Phoenix, Quiller Memorandum then you’ve seen some of his work. It was nice to get reacquainted for a couple of years before I eventually got married and moved away.

In the language of flowers jonquil means love me, affection returned, desire, sympathy, desire for return of affection.  So plant some jonquils and enjoy your garden.