Driving in the farmlands near La Conner, Washington earlier this week, my wife and I saw a bunch of cars parked along the side of the road. “Pull over!”, I announced, not wanting to miss a rare opportunity to A. take snapshots of a field of flowers that are only in bloom a few weeks out of the year B. take snapshots of a field of flowers that are only in bloom a few weeks out of the year on a sunny day in western Washington, which, if you’re familiar with the ratio of cloudy to sunny days in this region you’ll know is relatively rare. Are there not already hundreds of thousands of snapshots in circulation of Skagit valley daffodils in bloom? Well, yes, there are. But, why not more?

Celebrating the first day of Spring, the Seattle Times had this:

Brian J. Cantwell wrote: … If you need a life-affirming outing that will truly convince you it’s spring, head for the Skagit Valley, where daffodil fields are near full bloom, according to the official bloom map on www.tulips.com, the website for Mount Vernon-based Washington Bulb Co., among the world’s largest growers of flower bulbs. The firm grows more 1,000 acres of flowers.

Tulips are still a ways off, though they might be blooming in time for the April 1 beginning of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, the website reports. … (more)

[Also see –The Daffodils of Skagit County, part 1]