One Man, 40,000 Daffodils and an Open Invite

by Gary Jeanfaivre


The sight was so impressive that I had to pull over and get a closer look. I had take a picture to capture the beauty. I had to share it with you.

Tucked on the other side of a stonewall in rural Redding, a sea of yellow daffodils stretched toward the woods nearly as far as the eye could see. Set here against the backdrop of a bright blue sky and interspersed with shades of green grass, the daffodils are the ultimate and iconic sign of spring in New England.

Yet the brilliant flowers were simply the prelude to the real treat: the 96-year-old man who planted each one of the 40,000 bulbs.

After a gentle knock on the door of the modest house, Henry "Bud" McQuade came out smiling to greet me, an unannounced stranger with a camera hanging around his neck.

Bud was thrilled I had stopped to admire his daffodils. We chatted as he walked me out to get a closer look. He pointed out the angel he placed on the stump of what used to be a large pine tree. The faces he placed on two large oaks. The stonewall that lines the front of his property on Cross Highway in Redding, which he had rebuilt by hand and cited as one of his proudest accomplishments.

Bud, who will be 97 in two months, said he can plant about 200 bulbs an hour when he gets on a roll. Last year he planted 1,447 until he got rained out.

He's got it down to a science. And that's only fitting for a man who retired in 1997 after 28 years as chairman of the science deparment at Joel Barlow High School. Bud is also a U.S. Air Force veteran of World War II.

And, not surprisingly, he's become known for his daffodils. Some people have been coming back to see them each spring for the past 12 years.

The Fairfield County Review magazine even featured them on its cover in 2012. Bud pulled the magazine out of his car to show me.

"I encourage people to come on in," he said. I didn't see it when I pulled in his driveway, but a small stone sign at the entrance says just that: "come on in."