Fun Stories About Some Spring Bulbs

While I was searching for some pictures of daffodils I cam across a few bits of history or mythology that pertain to some of my favorite springtime bulbs. Although these stories have nothing specifically to do with being house proud, they are fun nonetheless. I have repeated some of the most interesting facts below.

Apparently, my favorite daffodils were brought to the United Kingdom by the Romans. At the time the Romans thought that the nectar from daffodils had special healing powers. This is a bit strange as it is now commonly known that the sap from daffodils can have an irritating effect on exposed skin. The sap doesn't bother me much but if you are going to be handling many cut daffodils you might want to wear gloves,

The official botanical name for daffodils is narcissus. Greek mythology provides the root of this name. According to mythology, there was a young Greek named Narcissus who was entirely full of himself. A nymph called Echo was in love with him, but Narcissus cruelly ended the relationship. Heartbroken she hid in a cave and later died alone. After her death, Narcissus saw his face in a pool of water, and as he leaned over to get a better view, he fell in, drowned and became the flower.


According to Greek mythology the hyacinth flowering bulb got its name from a young boy named Hyacinth was suddenly killed when a discus hit him in the head. The boy lay dieing in the arms of the God Apollo who was wailing in sadness. As the boy died a flower began to grow from the cut on his head. Some hyacinths apparently have a letter-like pattern on their petals which look like the "A" in Greek which some say stands for Apollo. I say apparently as I have never seen this pattern and I will have to wait until 2010 to check in my garden.

Hyacinths came to Germany from Turkey and then spread across the continent of Europe. A German doctor named collected samples of hyacinths when he visited Turkey in 1573 and brought them back to Germany. By the early 1700s hyacinths were wildly popular with thousands of varieties available.


According to ancient mythology, the Greek Gods Zeus & Hera loved one another so passionately and completely that the land where they lived became spontaneously littered with crocuses.

Crocuses were thought to have been brought to the United Kingdom from France and them spread across the rest of Europe and then later to North America. However, much like the hyacinth, my guess is that Greek mythology places their origin in Greece.

These are lovely stories and a wee bit of history about the spring flowering bulbs that help me be house proud.