Page 12 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 SAUGUS GARDENS IN THE PANDEMIC Here’s what’s blooming in town this week to make your walks more enjoyable By Laura Eisener ho can deny that spring has turned a corner, when peepers can be heard in the evening and the goldfinches are now flaunting their summer plumage? Daffodils may be the most plentiful flower in town this week, but they have a few other early bulbs as companions, including the blue, white and yellow patterned ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ iris. The very early nonbulb perennial Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis and hybrids), the popular shrub forsythia (or golden bells, Forsythia intermedia), trees such as star magnolia (Magnolia stellata), weeping willow (Salix alba ‘pendula’) and several of the maples and poplars are blooming, too. Leaves are emerging on many plants, including rose bushes (Rosa spp.) and Montauk daisies (Nipponanthemum nipponicum). Pansies (Viola wittrockiana) are out in the nurseries and many have been planted in containers and gardens. If you find yourself wanW dering “Lonely as a Cloud” around town this week, you will find “a host of golden daffodils” (Narcissus spp.) in SauPURPLE BEAUTIES: A Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis) in a shady Lynnhurst garden. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) gus Center and many other places. Under the crabapple on Town Hall lawn, just beginning to unfurl its reddish foliage, you will find both trumpet forms and cupped daffodils in bloom. There are many categories of daffodil, based on length of floral parts and on whether the plant typically has a single flower per stalk or several. There are also different size categories, from flowers even smaller and shorter than hybrid crocuses, to taller ones with showy flowers that may be over a foot tall. Bloom BLUE, WHITE AND YELLOW: A colorful Iris reticulata ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ in a sunny Lynnhurst garden. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) time in Saugus varies from late March until late May. Usually the more fragrant types are the taller and later bloomers, while the shortest ones bloom earliest. The daffodil season seems to have started a little earlier than last year. Daffodils are categorized based on flower shape and other features. The most distinctive part is the corona. We might associate that word with other things these days, but it actually means crown, and you can see the resemblance to a crown as you look at the YELLOW FOR THE SPRING: A variety of daffodils in front of Town Hall. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) blossoms. The corona may be trumpet shaped, bowl or cup shaped, or disk shaped. Within the corona are the pistils and stamens. Surrounding it is the perianth, which consists of radiating petals and sepals that look so much alike that they are often referred to collectively as “tepals.” While we usually think of daffodils as bright yellow, the tepals may be pale yellow or white in some varieties. The corona may match the perianth or be very distinctively colored and contrast with the perianth colors. Bright yellow is very common, but pale pink, peach, white and greenish coronas are also possible, and some varieties have vermillion red stripes or bands. Which way do the daffodils face? The daffodils at the Civil War monument when I saw them were all dutifully lined up facing south just like the figure of “America” standing above them at the top of the monument. Like many other plants, they tend to face the sun. If they are planted against a wall, they will usually face away from that, so the little daffodils against the front of the Saugus Center Congregational Church face west, and those out in the center of the rotary face south, which is where the sun comes from most of the time. Daffodils are resistant to CELEBRATING THE SPRING: Pansies (Viola wittrockiana) and Easter Egg tree Planting near Fairmount Avenue flanked by bunny statues. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) FLOWERS FOR SAUGUS HEROES: Daffodils at the Saugus Civil War monument. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) deer, rabbits and most critters that happily eat tulips and crocuses, but the leaf tips of the daffodils may still be sampled, as many have been this spring. The flowers almost always emerge undamaged. It is to be hoped that everyone who enjoys the flowers this week will feel the same as English poet William Wordsworth, whose words were inspired by the yellow blossoms: “And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.” Editor’s Note: Laura Eisener is a landscape design consultant who helps homeowners with landscape design, plant selection and placement of trees and shrubs, as well as perennials. She is also a member of the Saugus Garden Club and offered to write a series of articles about “what’s blooming in town” shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was inspired after seeing so many people taking up walking.
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