Moments of Daffodil Perfection
Sending you a bright burst of spring with Georgianna Lane's new book all about my favorite flower.
The first day of spring has come and gone and we’ve officially “sprung forward” today in Italy. The wisteria is in full bloom in Amalfi and the sweet scent mixed with citrus blossoms stops me in my tracks all over town. Spring even arrived in the mail this week with an eagerly anticipated copy of my friend Georgianna Lane’s newest book Daffodils. An exquisite floral photographer, I’ve been looking forward to this book coming out for some time now since she shared with me over an aperitif in Paris that it was happening. The wait is over!
—17-year-old me with daffodils. (Still make that face when I see daffodils.)
As long as I can remember, daffodils have been my favorite flower. And not just in an “oh aren’t those pretty” sort of way. It’s much more of a can’t quite manage to speak or even think anything clearly when confronted with an absolutely perfect daffodil. Maybe that’s why Wordsworth’s classic poem about daffodils was the first one I memorized as a kid. In that poem I had found someone who could look at a daffodil and actually say something – and something beautiful as well.
—One of my happiest daffodil memories is being surrounded by a host of golden daffodils in St. James’s Park in London in March 2012.
What has always struck me about Georgianna’s photos—all of them but especially her floral images—is that they’re so beautiful that they can render me speechless in the same way that a beautiful flower can. What can I say about Daffodils? Well, it was very much worth the wait. With text by Naomi Slade, the book is beautifully illustrated throughout with Georgianna’s photos. It’s just one beautiful varietal of daffodil after another as you turn the pages, including the classics as well as ruffly, pastel colors, bright and tropical, and even pink ones. Here I am someone who loves daffodils and I had no idea that there are so many types out there.
—A peek inside Georgianna’s book.
And the names! Who couldn’t fall for a delicately ruffled peaches-and-cream Sugar Loaf or the surprising salmon pink of a Precocious or a slope of white and yellow Avalanche daffodils? There’s even the surprisingly mathematical Trigonometry daffodil that looks like two offset triangles. Plus, there’s plenty of historical information in the book, including fascinating background on their symbolism and meaning, to make it an enjoyable read even if—like me sadly—you don’t have a garden to plant daffodils.
—Daffodil perfection with a view from Scala on the Amalfi Coast.
Not long ago on Instagram, I shared about how since the start of the year I’ve been reading a beautiful book called Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year edited by Jane McMorland Hunter. Besides the lovely seasonal passages each day, it’s introduced me to over 30 new voices so far this year.
Just yesterday, the passage for March 29th was another new to me voice – the Irish rural writer and biographer John Stewart Collis (1900-1984) on the perfection of wildflowers:
“… for in this realm of flowers we actually are in the presence of abundant examples of – perfection. I think that perfection is the key to the emotion that flowers cause in us. When a thing is perfect the problem of its existence is solved. Gazing at flowers in a wood an unexpected signal seems to go up; we feel a movement of happiness and hope about everything, there is a suggestion that all is really well, all is right with the world … It is because of this that all men, even ruffians, feel attracted to flowers. For they do intimate to us that, in spite of everything, all is well.”
—John Stewart Collis, from Down to Earth, Part II, The Wood (1947)
When I read that passage I thought about how right now—when so much feels very far from right with the world—there couldn’t be a better time to send a good dose of spring perfection to your inbox. So if you’re in need of a bright burst of color and happiness, I highly recommend getting yourself or someone you love Daffodils. Even if just for little doses of time while perusing its pages, all is well.
By the way, I ordered my copy from The Paperback Exchange in Florence – my favorite English language bookstore in Italy. (Italy friends: They have a huge catalog and they can ship to you.) Support your local bookshops wherever you are and, as Wordsworth would say, go fill your heart with pleasure and dance with the daffodils!
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What a lovely arrangement!