Pioneer Living Survival Magazine

 Milandred Farm

  Our Rare Heirloom Daffodil Collection

Twin Sisters, 1597
*Generally known every where,* wrote Gerard in 1597 about this wildflower he called Primrose Peerless or Common White. Today it*s especially well loved in the South, where its many names include April Beauty, Cemetery Ladies, and Loving Couples. Blooming at the end of daffodil season, it has two fragrant blooms per stem, white with tiny citron cups. 

 12-14 inches

3/$8.95      5/$14.50       10/$28.00       

Lent Lily, 1200
In English gardens by 1200, this is the dancing wildflower of Wordsworth*s poem and colonial gardens. It grows without care from Maine to California but is most loved in the Upper South, thriving in pastures and woods where homes once stood. It*s very early blooming,  fragrant blooms,  with a narrow gold trumpet and lighter petals that sweep forward gracefully.  10-12 inches
 

Van Sion, 1620
A.k.a. *Telamonius Plenus*, this is *the most important of all doubles* according to expert A.M. Kirby in 1907. It*s also the double most often found at old homesites, multiplying vigorously without care. And it*s the most confusing! In its first year or in a perfect spot its doubling is neatly contained by the trumpet. Usually, though, the whole flower explodes into a wild froth of green and gold.  14-16 inches

**Limited Quantaties on these Rare Beauties!

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*All orders will receive free of charge instructions on planting and caring for your heirloom bulbs!

Heirlooms
 Withstanding the Test Of Time
By Carrie Anne

There seems to be a movement going on right now regarding the importance of Heirloom's.  Heirloom seeds are what I am talking about.  Heirloom seeds that have withstood the test of time.  Heirloom seeds that have been growing healthy, safe, nutritional food for hundreds, even thousands of years.

Heirloom flower seeds and bulbs have been around for hundreds and thousands of years as well.   They have also withstood the test of time.  The daffodil (Narcissus) native mainly to the Mediteranean, were grown by the Egyptians and the Greeks and brought into English gardens by the 1200's. 

The Narcissus flower is perceived quite differently in the east than in the west. In the west, the Narcissus flower is seen as a symbol of vanity, in China, the same flower is seen as a symbol of wealth and good fortune.

The ancient Greeks believed this plant originated from the vain youth, Narcissus. He died after becoming so obsessed with his reflection in a pool he could not leave. The Greeks say that the gods turned his remains into the Narcissus flower.

In ancient China, there is a legend about a poor but good man, who was brought many cups of gold and wealth by this flower. Since the flower blooms around this time of year, it has also become a symbol of Chinese New Year.  If your Narcissus blooms on Chinese New Years, it is said to bring you extra wealth and good fortune throughout the year. On top of that, it has one of the sweetest fragrances of any flower. So it is highly revered in Chinese culture.

They're rich with history. They offer a living connection with gardeners of the past: the pioneers, Thomas Jefferson, medieval monks, Chinese emperors, or maybe your own grandmother.

They are great garden plants.  They are gorgeous, tough, vigorous, and survivors.  Heirloom's offering colors, forms, and special qualities that haven't been matched by newer bulbs. 

They were bred for gardens, rather than for pot and cut-flower production in greenhouses as so many modern bulbs have been.  They are graceful and wildflowery, with many of them once wild.

They are fragrant, adding another sensual dimension to your garden, thriving in a wide range of difficult climates where many modern bulbs fail. 
       
        These Heirloom's as well as heirloom vegetables and fruits, are rare, endangered, and in need of your help.  The only way to preserve these living artifacts, and their incredible genetic resources is to grow them!

There is a great value to growing Heirloom vegetables or flowers, something that your great grandmother or even great, great grandmother might have loved.  Like presering a historic building, or restoring an antique car, it is important to save our ties to the past.

The interest to market daffodil buds was initially sparked by Eleanor Smith of Gloucester in 1890. She was marveled by all the daffodils growing locally. Because daffodils are not native to America, the daffodils growing profusely in Virginia as well as other states, were brought to America from England by the early settlers.

Smith started raising daffodils in her little country plot and eventually was transporting by steamship on each trip, 100 baskets with approximately 2,500 blooms to her son at the Union Station in Baltimore.

He in turn sold the daffodils to newspaper boys and other customers. Virginia continued to expand in the daffodil bulb business and flourishes today as a national and multinational business.

Daffodils slowly made their way west when the new frontier opened. It was common for these treasured bulbs to be placed in small leather bags and transported hundreds and hundreds of miles in a covered wagon.

*Early settlers to our region  in S.E. Oklahoma, lived a hardscrabble life and yet they protected and preserved these flower bulbs as they moved west. Even the Indians carried daffodil bulbs with them on the "Trail of Tears"  to Oklahoma.

*Washington state currently produces about 20 percent of the bulbs grown in the U.S. At one time, there were over 1,000 acres in bulb production with about 40 daffodil growers, however, those numbers have dwindled to about 400 acres with five bulb growers.

The daffodil is recognized as an international symbol of hope.

Deer, rodents, and most other pests leave daffodils alone, but if some of yours mysteriously fail to appear in the spring, Daffodil Bulb Fly is most likely culprit.
 

Again, the only way to preserve these living artifacts, and their incredible genetic resources is to grow them! Grow Heirloom... vegetables, herbs, and flowers!

I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD
(The Daffodis)

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
in such a jocund company:
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
what wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 * 23 April 1850)

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