Colleen is noticing her first daffodil bloom today in NE California whereas here in coastal southern California daffodils have been open awhile. In 2009 I started taking photos of one bed of ordinary all- yellow, large-trumpet daffodils in all seasons. There are two varieties in the bed, both from the local hardware store. The foreground ones are slightly smaller and slightly pale, and bloom slightly later. The back ones were sold as King Alfred. Elsewhere in my yard other varieties of daffodil are earlier and later than these. http://flickr.com/photos/gastils_garden/… It seems like these daffodils vary quite a bit in their bloom dates within February and March. In the above set of photos I have only included the peak bloom shots. I also record leaf emergence, bud emergence, flowers fading, leaves turning yellow, and dry leaves each year. But those dont make for as pretty a photo subject. :) Last Saturday I attended a California Phenology Project workshop to learn how to observe the timing of seasonal transitions of plants at our local botanic garden. Of the 30 species chosen to focus volunteer effort in monitoring, none are bulbs except a Trillium that does not grow in my area. There was a Sisyrinchium on the long-list that did not make it to the short list. Their volunteers are not as aware of bulb growth stages as people on this mail list. - Gastil Santa Barbara, California maybe zone 9b or 10a. Officially 10a.