Paper-Yellows

Surprise the customers. I bought paperwhite narcissus at a local nursery last year after searching throughout town for the least expensive. I was buying for the master gardeners. I am VP of Training, and it was graduation time, when the rookie newbies were graduating from the training program to CERTIFIED master gardener status. It was a custom to hand out a small goodie bag to the graduates as they walked across the stage (front of the room) to receive their diplomas (certificates) and shake hands. I put together the best goodie bag ever with the extremely limited funds available. Included among some symbolic and useless items was one paperwhite bulb. My best price was $0.99 each. After class, I went back and bought six more bulbs for myself and planted them in time for a Christmas bloom. Four responded on schedule. A few more lallygagged well into January. And, then yellow. The late bloomers were yellow (obviously a different variety with different bloom characteristics). I wonder if any master gardeners got yellow, after their training coordinator labeled them as paperWHITES.

Speaking of color, one sunrise greeted me with some after a January snowfall.

Red sky at morning,
sailors take warning.
Red sky at night,
sailor's delight.

We got another snowfall after this morning sky.