Narcissus pachybolbos

[mark smyth]

Last year I got a bulb of Narcissus pachybolbos from a reliable source. It is still quite green. How should I care for it?

[arillady]

My clumps do well left well alone in the garden with the paperwhites and the common narcissus.
Mine are lucky to get any water in summer - so very dry summers are needed.
On the other hand how do you get Narcissus canaliculatus to flower
Plenty of leaves but slow to flower.

[Paul T]

Pat,

I lamented the canaliculatus recently too.  Total waste of space to me now, and I've pretty much given up after years of trying different possibilities. 

[Anthony Darby]

I suspect, like paperwhites, it won't be hardy so will need the alpine house?

[Paul T]

Anthony,

Both pachybulbus and canaliculatus grow fine outside here with no protection at all.  No frost damage on either of them, it is just that canaliculatus does not flower regardless of conditions for me.  Famed for it apparently, unless you have things exactly right.    I still don't have it right, obviously enough. 

[mark smyth]

I hate the smell of N. canaliculatus so I dont grow it. Most garden centres here stock 3 or 5 grown in a small pot from English or Dutch suppliers

[Maggi Young]

I suspect, like paperwhites, it won't be hardy so will need the alpine house?

 I think it will drown outside in Dunblane, Anthony!

[Anthony Darby]

Paul, or is it Mark, you can grow Narcissus viridiflorus outside. I rarely get it to flower in the bulb house. As Maggi say, it's not just the cold, but the wet that kills bulbs, and that's just the summer!

[mark smyth]

not me

[Anthony Darby]

 

[Paul T]

True, Anthony.  I don't do well with flowering of it, but I grow it outside just fine.  And Yes, wet and summer do tend to not be used together here. 

[Paddy Tobin]

Pat,

N. canaliculatus is not a dependable flowerer here either. However, I transplanted it to an area which is not as wet as the rest of the garden in the summer, near roots of trees, and it has flowered reliably now for the past 6 - 7 years though I must say that there is never great display, as though only a certain portion of the bulbs are flowering.


Paddy

[arillady]

Paddy I have them in a "wetter" area and a drier area and I think that the wetter ones seem to flower a bit more. They are not due to flower yet so I will keep an eye on them. You are in a far wetter area than here hence the """

[Anthony Darby]

.............but then Opuntia is a weed where you live. A plant that would rot here.