:: Daffodils ::
Narcissus “Fortissimo”
Tazetta “Paperwhites”

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:: 02.15.09 ::

Dependable

Right on schedule the daffodils and paper-whites are putting on a show for Valentines day.  Just when I think I can’t take one more cold gray day of weather, here they are, bright and cheery, helping chase off the winter blahs.

I should probably dig up the bulbs this year and divide them…maybe plant some in a different spot. Despite my neglect they just keep on giving each year.

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:: 02.09.06 ::

Behind Schedule

The first daffodil of 2006 opened on January 30th. The photo above was taken at night and shows a small clump of the larger jonquils now in bloom. A few other plants look like they are getting ready to bud, but so far the smaller of the narcissus have only thinly scattered stalks. We have had a huge drought with very little rain over the fall and winter so they are late getting started.

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:: 03.18.05 ::

The Last Days Of Winter

I have three different types of narcissus planted in the main flower bed along the driveway. The small solid yellow daffodils were planted by my grandmother. There are a lot of them and they usually begin blooming in late winter, the second week in February, around Valentines day. They are very small and grow one to a stem.

There were a few empty spots last year with no clumps of flowers, so I bought some bulbs at the nursery to fill them in this year. I just grabbed some bulbs from the big box they had and I didn’t really pay attention to what kind I was getting. I accidentally mixed in, or grabbed, some “paper-white” bulbs by mistake (or some one else at the nursery put them in the wrong bulb box by accident). At any rate I didn’t mean to plant them and I have white scattered among the yellow now. They have elongated petals with tiny yellow centers and they are growing with multiple flower heads per single stem.

I like them, but I might sort out the white bulbs later and replant them in another location so they make more of an impact when all together.

The new bulbs I meant to buy are the cute little two toned daffodils. These are also small like my naturalized ones but they grow in multiples on one stem. The centers are a dark yellow -orange, very round and each petal has a tiny white tip. They bloom about two or three weeks after the others.

The flowers started wilting and drying up about the first and second week in March. I always let the stems die back completely. I don’t cut them back until they are wilted and have yellowed…sometime in the summer.