She knew her children had been busily planting some 13,000 bulbs last year, in addition to the thousands they had planted in years prior and the hundreds she herself had tucked into the ground near her pond over three decades.
But she had no idea they had hatched that particular plan to spring up in time for her 85th birthday.
There it was, though, in nodding blooms of yellow and white: "J-O-Y."
"We were thinking about writing something, and the 'Zamoiski' was way too long," jokes daughter Nancy, who with sister Doreen did much of the planting during visits last fall.
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