The Daffodil Concept

As promised, today I would love to introduce you to The Daffodil Concept.

We live in southern California, not far from Running Springs, a mountain community where Mr. and Mrs. Gene Bauer live.


Starting in 1958, Mrs. Bauer started her daffodil garden. They live on five acres in this tiny mountain community, and painstakingly, slowly, with lots of love, this one woman over a course of over 50 years, planted more than 50,000 daffodil bulbs, painting the landscape with color. She is my heroine.


A tiny sign in front of her modest house states: "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking".  The first answer was "50,000 bulbs,".  The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman.  Two hands, two feet, and very little brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

One bulb at a time, she began her labor of love to bring joy and happiness to all who saw it. She explained that it takes about six weeks for her to plant the bulbs in drifts with each bulb placed in the soil about six inches apart.  She plans where her drifts will be planted. Drifts are composed of from 5-6,000 bulbs and she began at the bottom of the slope and worked uphill. Some of the bulbs are still in the ground and blooming after 50-plus years.

Their garden is 'natural' in that it has never been artificially watered during the summer, fertilized or over-planted. There are more than 100 or more different daffodils, some only one or two of a kind. The large drifts that cover the hillsides are composed of about 20 different kinds.


Sadly, a fire in 2007 destroyed some of the daffodils but many still remain. The Bauers retired their garden to the public in 2009.


But just think of what one single woman set out to do, by herself.She wanted simply to bring her vision of beauty and joy to the world. One bulb at a time. One step at a time. Simply loving the slow process of planting and being at one with the Earth. Loving the project as it unfolded it's beauty.Sticking with it. Loving an achievement that grew so slowly and then bloomed for only three weeks each year. Still just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world.

This one woman had forever changed the world in which she lived.She had created beauty, God's beauty, and gave us a gift without price-inspiration.The principle her daffodil garden teaches is one of the greatest principles of Life.Learning to let go, let God and how much just 'little you' can accomplish, one step at a time. Learning to love the journey, not the destination. Seeing the sights along the way.We can change our world.


We're working our way up. Right now we guesstimate that we have at least several hundred bulbs. And we keep on planting.

Because we believe.