If any­thing marks spring­time, it is the annu­al explo­sion of daf­fodils seen along the roads and hill­sides of Julian in March and April.  They range from lit­tle bou­quets seen pop­ping from road­side roosts to forests of yel­low-green flow­ing in the grass, from the gen­tle coun­try­side of Wyno­la Val­ley to the moun­tain pass of the Julian town­site. Wordsworth might have seen some­thing like it when he penned:

“When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of danc­ing Daffodils;
Along the Lake, beneath the trees,
Ten thou­sand danc­ing in the breeze.”

Daf­fodils and art

Julian daf­fodils

The annu­al Julian Daf­fodil Show on Sat­ur­day, March 22–23, saw a thou­sand excit­ed vis­i­tors breeze into the Town Hall on Main Street.  The judg­ing divi­sions cel­e­brat­ed all  twelve clas­si­fi­ca­tions of daf­fodils, like the trum­pets, the large and small cups, the dou­ble cups, the bell-shaped, the wind-swept, the hoop pet­ti­coat, and oth­ers includ­ing the wild species.  In addi­tion to the notable col­or flips–from yel­low on white on some flow­ers while oth­ers show the oppo­site white on yellow–individual flower per­son­al­i­ties, like  streaks and flour­ish­es, added to the enor­mous vari­ety seen in the show. The bril­liant yel­lows and oranges lit up the town hall; in a word, it was daz­zling.  On to next year with even bet­ter prepa­ra­tion, and hope­ful­ly a web­site ded­i­cat­ed to all the goings-ons that pre­pare for and stage this event.

Click on pho­tos for enlarge­ments and descriptions

Sal­ly Snipes, founder of Julian Daf­fodil Project

The cre­ator of the Julian Daf­fodil Project is Sal­ly Snipes, a mas­ter gar­den­er and pro­fes­sion­al art instruc­tor, known par­tic­u­lar­ly for her vibrant water­col­ors.  The project began many years ago with the plant­i­ng of a few bulbs in mem­o­ry of her grandfather.

Update 01-31-2021:  Check out the annu­al Julian Daf­fodil Show on the Julian Daf­fodils Face­book Page.

Show­stop­pers!

Daf­fodils repro­duce new  bulbs every year, so in addi­tion to the orig­i­nal bulbs plant­ed by Sal­ly her­self and those by the ded­i­cat­ed efforts of her grow­ing legion of vol­un­teers, the num­ber of daf­fodils now com­ing into bloom each year is  count­ed in the mil­lions! The project has been con­ta­gious, with some area res­i­dents adding their own gar­dens to the legacy.

Pho­tos by Bar­bara Swan­son unless noted

The annu­al Daf­fodil Show has become Julian’s gar­den event of the year.