CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Last week’s column was about forsaking the cheery yellow springtime flowers of the non-native shrub, forsythia. This week’s space is devoted to another cheery non-native yellow flower that has earned a special place in Cleveland: the daffodil.
Like many favorite spring bulb flowers, the daffodil (Narcissus family) did not originate in North America but instead hails from around the Mediterranean Sea, where it has been cultivated, hybridized, and grown for thousands of years. Daffodils have six petals around a center floral tube in the shape of a bell or trumpet. The most common coloration is vibrant yellow, but some varieties come in shades of white or orange.
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Visitors flock to Daffodil Hill in Lakeview Cemetery in spring.Susan Brownstein
The most famous stand of daffodils in Northeast Ohio is Daffodil Hill on a north-facing slope of Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland. The hill is just entering peak bloom, and on a recent sunny morning, the flowers were gorgeous, showing no damage from frost the night before or sleet and snow a few days before.
This resilience highlights the daffodil’s extreme hardiness in a variety of climates: they aren’t too fussy about the soil, moisture, or weather. Deer won’t take so much as a nibble, and while chipmunks and squirrels might relocate them for you, they won’t eat them either. Because they bloom so early in spring, before most native pollinators have emerged from winter, few if any bugs will disfigure them.
The daffodil garden in front of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple in Beachwood was planted last fall to commemorate young victims of the Holocaust.Susan Brownstein
The color, shape, and strength of daffodils have made them a symbol of hope and renewal in many cultures, and that symbolism is at the heart of an organization called the Daffodil Project, a worldwide effort to plant 1.5 million daffodils “in memory of the children who perished in the Holocaust and in support for children suffering in humanitarian crises today.” The yellow flowers symbolize not only remembrance but were chosen because they resemble the yellow stars that Jews in Europe were forced to wear during World War II.
A sign at Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple explains the significance of the daffodil garden planted as part of the Daffodil Project to commemorate young Holocaust victims.Susan Brownstein
Northeast Ohio’s first Daffodil Project garden was planted last October in front of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple in Beachwood.
Jenny Marmaros, program assistant at the temple, organized the planting with religious school director, Staci Cohen. On a drizzly Sunday morning last fall, students dug holes and planted 500 bulbs in about three hours, and the garden is in bloom for the first time this spring.
The poignant symbolism of the flowers, each one representing a young life cut short by systematic hate, adds a searing pain to the blooms’ beauty. (Even the seemingly countless flowers of Daffodill Hill would represent little more than 10 percent of the lives that the Daffodill Project intends to signify.)
Jenny Marmaros, right, and kindergartners at the Fairmount Temple religious school planted daffodils last fall in memory of young Holocaust victims.Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple
Daffodils are also easy to plant, as Marmaros confirmed as she described eager young students brandishing trowels to plant the daffodil garden: dig a hole and plant the bulb about six inches deep, and you will have a daffodil in that location next spring and for several years after that.
After blooming, the spent flowers can be cut, but the green foliage should be left until it is brown and withered. During this time, the plant is using the leaves for photosynthesis and storing the energy in the bulb for next spring’s show. This process is why daffodils, although they can tolerate some shade, prefer full sun.
At Lakeview Cemetery, for example, Arboretum Director Kevin McNallie explained that the tree canopy over Daffodil Hill means that the bulbs are not as vigorous as they might be in full sun and new bulbs must be added every few years. The cemetery typically plants the Carlton variety of daffodil, because, McNallie says, “they have a large trumpet, they’re dependable, they’ve been around for a long time and are fairly inexpensive.” McNallie says the crew may apply a high-phosphorous organic fertilizer to encourage showier blooms, but other than that, the daffodils are pest- and trouble-free.
With the emphasis on native plants in gardening, some gardeners, including myself, struggle with flowers like the daffodil. While they do not seem to be actively harming habitat, they are not adding anything to it either. As McNallie pointed out, if the daffodils were not on Daffodil Hill, that location would likely be crowded with spring ephemeral flowers such as cutleaf toothwort, hairy Solomon’s seal, and trout lilies over the next few weeks, which would feed early pollinators.
On the other hand, while daffodils have no more benefit to native pollinators than silk flowers, they attract humans outdoors during an otherwise bleak month in Northeast Ohio, as evidenced by the many families and couples strolling Daffodil Hill last weekend.
With their strong stems and beautiful floral scent, daffodils are a wonderful cut flower for bouquets (with no guilt about stealing food from pollinators because there aren’t any). And in the case of the Daffodil Project, the flower has been transformed into a symbol and education tool. With their long history of cultivation, daffodils exist almost solely for the purpose of delighting and inspiring humans, bringing a welcome dose of springtime cheer.
Organic farm tour in Mentor. If you are interested in no-till mulch farming, solar water pumping, deer and rabbit pest protection techniques (and who isn’t?), the local chapter of the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association is hosting a free organic farm tour on April 20. For more information and registration, visit http://www.oeffa.org/events.php or contact Tom Rapini at tomrapini@gmail.com.