Serendipity is defined as “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.”

I recently joined the American Daffodil Society. I came to them via the American Horticultural Society.

I have always been a daffodil and narcissus lover and I came to the American Daffodil Society also because of my interest in antique and heirloom bulbs. They have a whole section devoted to this! 

I buy heirloom bulbs from a wonderful company in Michigan called Old House Gardens. They were my first foray into antique and heirloom daffodil bulbs with the exception of the ones I’ve discovered through people like Brent and Becky’s Bulbs in Virginia, and White Flower Farm in Connecticut.

I will admit I am a rank amateur at old bulbs. I am attracted to the concept of preserving them much the way I choose native plants and heirloom natives for my garden.

I became enamored of a particular daffodil that’s very old. It’s called Sulphur Phoenix. I believe I originally heard of this bulb courtesy of the people at Gardener’s World. And if it wasn’t them it was some British gardening special somewhere.

So anyway, I decided I really want this bulb and it looks really cool and I couldn’t find anybody in the US that grew it so I started contacting bulb growers in the UK. Those kind people steered me back to the heirloom bulb folks at the American Daffodil Society.

I decided to not only join the list serve for the older bulbs, but I decided to join the actual society.

I actually have just recently received recently my welcome letter and a couple of the recent editions of Daffodil Journal which is their quarterly publication.

This morning the phone rang and it was a lovely lady from the daffodil society named Sara.

I don’t know what it is about finding the kindred gardening spirits but I definitely discovered one today from across several states. I really love speaking with just nice and interesting people who share a commonality of interest.

I learned many things in our conversation and also was told of a gardening book that I found on eBay that I will be adding to my garden library.

The book is called Bringing Nature Home and was written by a University of Delaware professor named Doug Tallamy.

How cool is it that someone a few states away told me about this wonderful book? From someone who is actually more local to me than she is! I can’t wait to read the book and Professor Tallamy’s website is super interesting as well. 

This is why I love gardeners! You learned something new from everyone you speak with. I am not an expert on bulbs as I have said I just like them. But because my curiosity was piqued with heirloom and antique bulbs I now have other things to learn about with regard to gardening.

We can always learn. And we can always learn from other gardeners if we are just open to the possibilities.