Spring is springing here in East Texas. One of my favorite places in late February and March is the Helen Lee Daffodil Gardens. The estate is 816 acres, of which 28 are blooming with daffodils, with a four mile, one lane dirt road that meanders through this amazing property with the occasional pullout to park and take pictures.
Mr and Mrs Lee bought the property in the 1950's and quarried several gravel pits on it. Much of the gravel was used to build the roads of what is now Gladewater, TX. A short time later Mr. Lee passed away and Mrs. Lee closed the pits, filled them in and created ponds and a beautiful setting for wild life. She ordered an entire box car of daffodil bulbs from Holland and planted them around the property. If you would like to read the entire story you can access their website at http://daffodilgarden.com/daffodil_history.htm
I love this place. It is so peaceful and so naturally beautiful. This is NOT a manicured garden, it is God's work at it's finest. Millions of daffodils in the woods of East Texas. Stunning! As you can tell the trees aren't green yet. It provides for such a stark contrast between the vivid yellow of the daffodil and the rusts and browns of the woods.
This is the sweetest memoriam.
This year there weren't as many blooms as in years past. I asked the manager of the property and she said that they think it is because of the previous years drought. Not as many plants flowered, they do this to conserve their bulb energy for the next year.
Keeping watching over the lone daffodil
Four miles of dirt road meander through the fields of daffodils
Have to love a split rail fence
Raw beauty
Such amazing beauty! If you would like to see more of the pictures I took on my daffodil adventure go to www.brickroadphoto.smugmug.com Look under nature/east texas spring
From Mrs. Lee's website....."...due to the hard work, patience and love of Mrs. Lee, for her God, her country
and her fellowman, to be able to add to the beauty of nature for all to enjoy as
much as she did".
Thank you Mrs. Lee for leaving such a beautiful legacy.
For those of you getting snowed on and blown around, I hope this has warmed your day a bit.
Love and miss all of you
Jeanne
No comments:
Post a Comment