March has always been a special month for me.  As a child, I always looked forward to it because it was my birthday month.  Happy Birthday to me!  But more than that, it was the month I always associated with daffodils.  My mom is a flower lady.  Thanks to her I’ve always had a love for flowers as well.  I love looking at them, planting them, knowing what types they are and where they’d best grow.

Out in sunny southern California where I was a kid, flowers usually grow year-round; a blessing that I really miss during the cold winter months here in the midwest.  Mom had dozens of huge, beautiful rose bushes around the house that bloomed in all colors.  For a while, I had a fascination with blue roses, so we looked everywhere we could to find a rose bush that would bloom in blue.  The closest we ever came was a light lavender.  Still gorgeous, and the quest was so meaningful.  Mom had a flower bed in the front yard with purple African Daisies, Irises, gladiolas, beds of everbearing strawberries and fields full of native wildflowers.  My childhood was surrounded by flowers.

Most of all though, I remember the daffodils that would make it into the house in vases every March as “Chickadee’s Birthday Flowers!” It’s such a special memory.  Now that I’m a mom and have a sweet March Birthday Girl too, I try to continue the Daffodil tradition.  Only here in Missouri, it is a little different.  March brings springtime!  Meteorologically, (although not astronomically) March 1 brings warmer temperatures and the first reminders of Spring to come.  We eagerly anticipate those first green daffodil shoots that poke up out of the soil.  Ottergirl searches the yard for them, making sure to let me know when she’s found them.  We troop excitedly out in the yard to spot each group of shoots, then we make sure to check their progress daily as they grow little by little until they finally bloom and we can take them inside to adorn our table.  Now they are Ottergirl’s Birthday Flowers!

Here in Missouri, we’ve also got crocuses we watch… the excitement of seeing those colorful little heads pop out of the dead brown ground first before any other flowers are even thinking about it yet is always fun too!  We’ve been blessed that the previous owners of our property had a love for flowers as well.  Thanks to them, our yard will soon be literally flooded with tulips and hyacinths.  I cherish the pictures I’ve taken of the girls when they were younger sitting out in the yard with rows of bright tulips surrounding them.   I guess I must admit that Spring is my favorite season.  What’s yours?  Do you have birthday traditions in your family?  Do you have special flower memories?  What types of flowers are most meaningful to you?