In Virginia, daffodils don’t arrive all at once.
They show up quietly - along the roadside, near old homes, in places that have been there longer than most of us.
Year after year, without much attention, they return.
That’s part of what makes them feel different here.
Across Tidewater and much of Colonial Virginia, daffodils have naturalized over time - planted generations ago and still blooming in the same places each spring. They aren’t just seasonal flowers. They’re part of the landscape.
Growing up in Tidewater, spring didn’t arrive all at once.
You noticed it in small ways first. The air softened. The light shifted. Then daffodils appeared quietly along the roadside.
That was always the signal.
What followed felt different.
Along the coast, spring is less about bloom and more about atmosphere. Salt air, soft warmth, and something worn in that settles slowly.
When I started building Autumn Laurel, both of those experiences stayed with me.
The Gloucester candle comes from the coastal side of that story.
Soft florals carried on salt air, grounded by weathered wood.
The Mountain Daffodil comes from the other. The moment spring first makes itself known.
Together, they tell the full story of the season in Virginia.
It’s our way of capturing that first shift into spring, the kind you recognize before you can explain it.
You’ll find it this weekend at the Gloucester Daffodil Festival.
Booth 453 — Main Street & Justice Road
Come find us. I think you’ll recognize it when you smell it.