Love it Laura. Used to have that one at our first home...when do you start THE MARCH?

On a more subtle note :-) Encountered a Jack Pine plantation today (Pinus banksiana). The trees were planted a year ago this spring, after forest fires and logging a couple years ago. They bud capped last fall to prevent deer from destroying the winter buds. They've already out grown their need for the caps. Male strobili on a more mature tree along the trail.

(Going over the edge here:) Jackie, I don't recognize your other daffodil, but would certainly like to know what it is. Common feral daffodils in my area are forms of what I think are Narcissus pseudonarcissus, running to two main types, one smaller and earlier than the other, and with a slightly proportionally longer trumpet, both all yellow; and what looks like the old double 'Van Sion'. Poet's narcissus grows wild but is uncommon, but last spring I saw substantial plantings of it in two yards, both blooming like mad. I planted it down in the woods, where it increases but doesn't flower. For garden types, 'Thalia', an old white Triandrus kind, is wonderful, durable and beautiful; and I have an elegant narcissus I planted years ago that I suspect is 'Aircastle', that has increased and been lovely in really bad soil. Others I have at least some success with: Jonquil 'Sweetness'; an old favorite; 'Palmares', the only split trumpet daffodil I like; 'February Gold' and 'Jetfire', both Cyclamineous hybrids; little 'Hawera', another Triandrus; and one that's been lasting and increasing for a few years that I think is 'Sailboat'. In conditions like mine, where the soil is so poor, very heavy, blasted by drought in the summer, it's hard to know whether a variety is done in by its own unsuitability or by unmanageable conditions. I used to think daffodils were an impossible dream for me, like magnolias, but I've gotten more optimistic. P.S. Actually, it's possible that I may have your mystery daffodil. I found a clump of feral daffodils last year that looked similar; dug a few and planted them along with my larger feral Pseudonarcissus type, as I had seen done in a nearby garden (always ready to steal a good idea). Not much bloom this year so I don't have a good picture of the variety in my head, but if I remember right it was a two-toned yellow with a small cup, fairly tall.

You all know that fallen leaves and pine needles are the best mulch and needed for composting, right? I try to keep the pine needles, especially in the fall because they help protect the plants from the cold. With breezes and rain, they end up in the beds and not on the grass, so we leave them. DH has been raking off the leaves now and we will have mulch put down, but we have to because of all the acorns! We had thousands and thousands of them and they don't blow away if they aren't on the walkway -- where they don't sprout. He raked off what he could, which is why the leaves went too, but we have pulled hundreds of sprouted seedlings from the flower beds and lawn. I need to have a talk with the squirrels about taking dessert from my birdfeeders before having an entree of acorns. As if it would do any good. Haha. Acorns and yellow air -- the price we pay for trees and blooms.