Usually this time of year, one flower appears along the roads of Washington County and gardens and yards of most every resident of our region. This flower, the daffodil, is called by many names including "Easter flowers" or "jonquils." Yet, this little flower comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes as well as colors these days. The daffodil is probably one of America’s earliest imported flower that came with many from the old country to the new. As these flowers continue to bloom and remind us that Spring is not too far away, their beauty and presence also signifies a time that has passed.
According to an article titled, “The History of Daffodils” by Melody Rose, the daffodil is an old plant, being introduced by the Romans and grown in much of Southern Europe. They are associated with the resurrection from the dead. These flowers, known by some as narcissus, were used primarily as funeral flowers. According to Journal of The New York Botanical Garden Vol. XXVI No. 301 January 1925, “It was used for funerals and specimens have been discovered in tombs opened in our times. About 200 years before Christ, two sorts were known, Narcissus Tazetta and Narcissus poeticus. The Elizabethans knew a number of varieties and grew them in their gardens.”
As many of the earliest settlers in America came from European countries such as the United Kingdom, Wales and Scotland, many of this plant’s bulbs ended up crossing the ocean on ships that our ancestors came over on as well. According to Melody Rose, “The bulbs were hardy and easy to transport over the ocean voyage, so a huge percentage of them survived and were planted all across the eastern seaboard and Appalachia.”
Even still, Sara Van Beck’s “South Carolina and the History of American Daffodil” records the narcissus in Charleston, South Carolina, as early as 1761 in gardens of some of the most prominent citizens. Even Thomas Jefferson wrote about the daffodil at Monticello in his journal in April of 1766.
Even though, daffodils are not native species to East Tennessee, many of our area’s families probably had them imported to feature in their gardens as well. I would say, daffodils were probably not here as early as in Charleston, South Carolina or even in Charlottesville, Virginia, but they were inevitably brought here in the years to follow as many trade routes brought other goods into this area from towns like Charleston and Philadelphia. Yet, many writers believe the plant became a popular species in the South between the 1850s to the 1920s.
According to the American Daffodil Society, the daffodil bulb should outlast many humans in good growing conditions. Under this theory, this means these flowers once planted in the gardens of many early citizens of our area can become good indicators of where old homes, cemeteries and structures where old gardens usually accompanied such sites.
According to Sherry Teal’s “Blooms and Borders: How Daffodils Reveal Historic Building Foundations,” because daffodils are bulbs, they must be planted by humans and not spread by seeds eaten by birds, we can track the different varieties to particular species of the plant to date historic sites. Teal suggests, “Because there is a register of cultivars, we can narrow down the time frame of a building’s construction through the presence of daffodils…By researching the cultivars and asking certain questions prompted by them, we can learn more about a site’s former residents. Is the cultivar rare for the place and time period, indicating the landowner’s wish to demonstrate prestige? Are there sites close to one another on the landscape that have the same cultivar, showing family or friendship connections? Do the cultivars at the home site match the cultivars at the graveyard, suggesting a long-term connection to the area? With research, some of those questions can be answered to offer us valuable insight into those who lived in our world before us.”
Yet not all the daffodils in our area showcase the foundation of a house or the remains of a forgotten cemetery, these beautiful flowers are still something to admire as you drive through our region’s natural beauty and know that spring is on the horizon.
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