Narcissus in April 2007

[Anthony Darby]

They should definitely leave them a lawn Rafa!   

[Maggi Young]

Working overtime today, Anthony, since Cliff entered the pun fight?

I am saddened to think of these flowers, and others, losing their homes.
Rafa, what is the tall pant, in bud in your first pic and opening pale yellow or white in your second?

[Paddy Tobin]

Rafa,

What a pity to see such lovely plants being lost. This is one situation where collecting bulbs from the wild would be appropriate.

Paddy

[Rafa]

Maggi, that plant is Rorippa sylvestris subsp. sylvestris, it's very common, but apart Narcissus graellsii there are several species linving in this fields like Orchis morio, Orchis mascula, Orchis coriophora, Serapias lingua, Serapias cordigera, Scilla verna, Allium guttatum subsp. sardoum etc...which will disapear  in summer.

Paddy, I'm agree with you. I will observe this place waiting to collect seeds and to translocate all that I could to other filds far from this part.

Anthony, you are absolutely right hahahha. But don't worry my friends, I will make a seedling with 300.000, 3.000.000.000, 30.000.000.000..... seeds to restore this destroy. I will send to SRGC several millions of seeds!!!

[Maggi Young]

I did not recognise the Rorippa,  I expect it to have more foliage. Your list of wonderful orchids alone in the fields would make the loss of the habitat a tragedy, though I suppose we must grant even the "weeds" their right to live, also! Is there much support for you and people like you to oppose such development ?

[Diane Whitehead]

I received many packets of Narcissus seed from the 1997 AGS exchange.

Here, after ten years, is the first flowering -  N.bulbocodium tenuifolium.
Next year perhaps all the others will bloom.

[Maggi Young]

Ten years, eh? Just as well you have kept busy in the meantime, Diane, you could have been really bored waiting otherwise!

[Diane Whitehead]

10 years isn't too bad.  It took 32 years for the Embothrium I imported from Hilliers to bloom. 

But, getting back to bulbs from seed:  I sowed Colchicum bornmuelleri and C. autumnale MESE 302 in 2000.  All seeds are still sound (I dump them out to count every year or so) but all are ungerminated.

Much better success with Narcissus.  N assoanus from the SRGC exchange this year is growing lustily already. I'm going to fertilize it as Ian says, and maybe these will flower in only five years.

[Armin]

Hi - enclosed my last Narcissus of this year season and the only one

Narcissus poeticus

Narcissus poeticus is not flowering regular in my garden. Would say every second year the blossom is stronger. This year is a total desaster even many leaves have developped but no flowers.
Any recommendations / tricks from the specialists to increase the number of flowers next year? Much more pottassum, water, bulb growth deep ect..?