Over 15 years ago, I read a story in the “Ladies’ Home Journal” that changed my life — not in one grand sweeping moment, but by continual small steps taken over the next 15 years.

Jaroldeen Edwards’ article, “The Secret Garden,” tells of a bleak, rainy day when Edwards’ daughter insisted she accompany her on a short journey. Grudgingly, Ms. Edwards went along and was rewarded with an awe-inspiring scene of a daffodil-covered mountain. For 40 years, the woman behind the daffodil-covered mountain, planted daffodil bulbs one at a time. The scene left Ms. Edwards speechless, contemplative and determined to make small-step changes to add beauty to her own life.

Edwards writes: “Imagine — if I had had a vision and had worked at it, just a little bit every day for all those lost years, what might I have accomplished by now.”

“The Secret Garden” inspired me to plant more than 600 daffodil bulbs on the hillside beneath my own home. Over the years, the bulbs have multiplied and every spring, I reap the rewards of my labor. For three weeks, I have huge bouquets of daffodils on my kitchen table and vases of fragrant flowers on my desk at school. Students love the display of yellows and oranges that assure them spring has arrived and summer vacation is only a few short months away.

For four years, the one page article “The Secret Garden,” rested in my school filing cabinet.

It was the end of the school year, and I was preparing to pass my ninth grade class to a new teacher, as I prepared to teach 12th graders. After welcoming the new 9th grade teacher, I gave her access to all my files. As Mrs. Richardson thumbed through my filing cabinet, she stopped and turned to me with tears in her eyes. In her hands was “The Secret Garden.”

“This was my mother,” she said.

Summer passed and the new school year started. I pulled out “The Secret Garden,” still unsure of what writing project I could base on the story; but I wanted to inspire the students and I knew it would be an honor to have the author’s daughter read the story.

As Mrs. Richardson read, tears welled in her eyes and the students were silent. I had expected them to ask questions and when they didn’t, I was a little embarrassed. When she left, I asked my students, “So, what did you think?”

Silence again, until a quiet voice from the back of the room said, “I think we should plant daffodils.”

The energy in the room picked up. It was already the second of November and probably too late to plant bulbs. But while the East Coast was pelted with horrific weather, the West Coast was being blessed with unusual record high temperatures. I read that bulbs should be planted around the same time trees were losing their leaves. I looked around; it was the perfect time to plant daffodil bulbs.

The garden shop selection was slim, but I still purchased 300 daffodil and tulip bulbs for students to plant. On a beautiful fall day, we gathered to shovel hard dirt and place bulbs into the ground. I hoped students would learn what Ms. Edwards learned, what I had learned: One step at a time. Start today.