Reason #9: Daffodils.
The first flowers to bloom this year: six daffodils. A perfectly delightful group of exactly six happy daffodils.
Six daffodils in the back of our house, planted by a previous owner. Totally unassuming buttercream white outer petals in a perfect star shape, with bright, cheery, ruffled yellow inner petals.
It could not be more perfect. Six daffodils, to represent the six members of our Walton family.
Daffodils were among the first flowers I fell head over heels with (it actually may have been these very bulbs that are in bloom today)!
We moved into our house in Bolingbrook (southwest Chicago suburbs) in August 2022. At the time, the yard had clearly been nicely landscaped in the past, but had fallen into disarray as the house had sat empty for a bit.
The only things I did that fall were put chrysanthemums in pots and remove weeds (which mostly my mom did...because I was eight months pregnant with our third)!
After all the dust settled, boxes were unpacked, baby Ruby was born, and we settled into a new routine as a family of five, it was nearly spring.
And guess what starting popping up?
Daffodils.
And crocus. And tulips. And allium. And lilies.
SO many bulbs holding life and beauty underground and I had NO idea! It felt like (and still does feel like) a special surprise gift from the Lord.
Daffodils symbolize new beginnings, and it’s for this very reason. They are among the first bursts of spring and new life we see after the period of cold and wet and winter.
This is why (two years later) I chose a small bunch of daffodils to be on the Walton Family Flowers logo.
Six daffodils, to be exact. Because by mid-August, 2024, we were a family of six. And in November of 2024, I was ready for a new beginning. I was ready to burst into life after all the snow had melted. Ready to dash some color onto my messy and melty-snow-muddy life. Shake up the expected day-to-day grind and say yes to a new adventure.
A new beginning.
"We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new. Imagine that we could live each moment as a moment pregnant with new life. Imagine that we could live each day as a day full of promises. Imagine that we could walk through the new year always listening to the voice saying to us: “I have a gift for you and can’t wait for you to see it!” Imagine." -Henri Nouwen
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Wait, there are 100 reasons you want to be a flower farmer? Why, yes. Yes there are. And you can read the full explanation and reason #1 here.
