Yesterday, the first day of winter, I bought jonquils, the hoity toity term for daffodils. I had taken my fill of soup dumplings and braised seaweed in Flushing, NY’s Chinatown and was rolling out to the car. Could that really be daffodils they were advertising in the shop window — cut flowers, an unexpected bouquet?
Turns out they were not cut flowers but bulbs. I have another bulb working at home, an ethereal amaryllis, given to me by a botanically inclined friend, someone who knows how to grow everything. I had been lamenting the death of a fine cactus inadvertently left on a remote windowsill. Having something come to life in my house was very welcome.
Daffodils in winter. The trees don’t show their green now, but the flowers will flaunt their yellow before long. In China they believe that forcing daffodils in the new year will bring good luck. I’ll put them in dishes on a nest of gravel from my driveway and hope they bloom, hope I have the luck to get good luck.
These are some of the strangest looking bulbs I’ve ever seen. They will be mega-daffodils I’m sure. It’s hard not to think of Wordsworth writing in 1804 on the flower:
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.
A touch of the arbor in my living room as 2016 comes on.
Jean Zimmerman 
Old as I am, I continue to be amazed at the sudden emergence of daffodils and stories. Ernest Hemingway
I have my amaryllis tied with detail floss to a letter opener.
‘Twill be interesting to see what blooms from those new bulbs of yours; whatever they are, they can be called either DAFFODILS or NARCISSI; those are the common names for the genus which includes JONQUILS and PAPERWHITES… beware that the stems may grow very tall and need to be tied together for support. I think I’ll look for some for myself!
Weird green claws!