Daffy Down Dilly

The daffodils started blooming again this week, which means that spring won't be long in coming! In my area, these are the first flowers to bloom near the end of winter, often coming before the snow and cold weather has ended.


The corona (botanical name for the central "cup" or "trumpet") of the daffodil has a ruffled appearance around the edge, which resembles the ruffles in a petticoat. This has inspired poets to equate the flower to a woman and her clothing, as in the nursery rhyme which my mother recited to me as a child:

Daffy Down Dilly
has come to town
in a yellow petticoat
and a green gown

The nursery rhyme is so old, and perhaps originated in word-of-mouth folk lore, that I cannot determine its origin with certainty. The closest match is a rhyme that appeared in Eulalie Osgood Grover’s book "MOTHER GOOSE" printed in Chicago in 1915. However, the wording of the rhyme is slightly different, but perhaps this was, indeed, the origin and subsequent recitations were altered. Other slight variations of the rhyme appear in other sources.

The name "Daffydowndilly," however, was taken from the name of a short story titled "Little Daffydowndilly" which appeared in the book "THE SNOW-IMAGE AND OTHER TWICE-TOLD TALES" by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864). The protagonist in this story appears to have been a boy, though, not a girl, as shown in the illustrations.

Whether girls or boys, I am glad to see these harbingers of spring appearing again, as I am not a fan of cold weather!