Day Trips: Mrs. Lee’s Daffodil Garden, Gladewater

Mrs. Lee's Daffodil Garden between Tyler and Gladewater explodes with yellow flowers once a year for four to six weeks between mid-February and mid-March. This year the garden opened on Feb. 10. Nobody can predict exactly how long the spectacle will last, but everyone who has seen it has come away impressed.

Helen Lee began designing the nature preserve in 1951 on land her husband, T.W. Lee, purchased for the gravel deposits, says her great-nephew Van Vernon. In the late 1950s, she ordered a box of daffodil bulbs from Holland, but received a boxcar load.

That story is mostly true, says Vernon, who is president of the Helen Lee Foundation that maintains the property and opens it to the public for free.

Mrs. Lee envisioned planting the bulbs among the pine trees, but she kept adding more hillsides she wanted covered with her favorite flower. By the time the nurseryman totaled the area, it came to nearly 70 acres, requiring a railroad car load.

The garden was a labor of love for Mrs. Lee. She built a log cabin like the one she grew up in overlooking a pond she named Lake Josephine after her mother. Her descendants named a larger pond after her.

"She had a boat she paddled out into the lake and fed cat food to the biggest catfish you ever saw," Vernon says. "They were like pets."

Helen Lee died in 1984, outliving her husband by 30 years. Her will stipulates the perpetual care of the garden for the enjoyment of the community.

Mrs. Lee's Daffodil Garden is off U.S. Hwy. 271 S., 8½ miles south of Gladewater. Call 903/845-5780 to check on the daffodils' schedule, or search for "The New Mrs. Lee's Daffodil Garden" on Facebook to get more information.

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1,640th in a series. Everywhere is a day trip from somewhere: Follow “Day Trips & Beyond,” a travel blog, at austinchronicle.com/daily/travel.