Daffodowndilly

 Daffodowndilly              A poem by A.A. Milne

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,

She wore her greenest gown;

She turned to the south wind

And curtsied up and down.

She turned to the sunlight

And shook her yellow head,

And whispered to her neighbour, 

"Winter is dead."

~:~

Would that were true. . . 

This is the view next to my desk on March 12.  It's 21º and has been snowing all day.  We will end up with about 9 inches of snow on the ground.  The winds were fierce, and much of the snow has blown off the trees . . . but not all.

It's time for this to end and bring on the flowers!

Last year, the first daffodil was March 31.

But that was surprised with the April Fools weather joke.

We were really ready for spring last year.  The gardens have the temporary fences to keep the rabbits and woodchucks from eating the tender shoots.  The fences can come down in mid-summer.

Last year, we picked some forsythia for forcing on April 7, and this was our first bouquet (April 10).

I guess I have a while to wait.  Sigh.

We did have lots of crocus against the house last year on March 13,

so there's still hope. . . 

In the FWIW category, the word daffodowndilly is an old one.

Collins Dictionary shows it as appearing 1565-75.

They spell it with an a:  daffadowndilly.