Narcissus January- February 2009

[Lars S]

Very charming plant, Dom 
 IŽll have to wait for mine a few more months I guess.

[Anthony Darby]

Here is what I have labelled 'Julia Jane'.
 

[Rafa]

Beautiful Narcissus! here there are few ones in the green house like a very soon N. bulbocodium var. nivalis and var. graellsii, N. albidus var. occidentalis, N. albidus var. foliosus. N. tazetta and it will bloom next wee many N. asturiensis like Dominique's one. I am waiting a good sunny day to take some pictures

[Tony Lee]

Hello Anthony,thanks for your comment on my pot of N romieuxii in the fridge,I purchased a few years ago from a very reliable source as N rom Julia Jane,I have since been told that they are not JJ,So I just refer to them as N romieuxii,But I still think my source was right.Pity I have not a cloe up to compare.  

[Maggi Young]

Tony refers to a comment from Anthony about a pot of Narcissus pictured in a fridge in this thread....
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2914.msg68599#msg68599   in this post....
Re: Mini fridge for controlled winter storing
« Reply #11 on: January 09, 2009, 05:31:06 PM »
here is a copy of part of that photo...

[Maggi Young]

Ah, we return to the 'Julia Jane'  mystery! I must say that I incline to the belief that 'Julia Jane' is a very pale, flat faced, reflexing flower. Luc showed his bulb at the start of this thread. I refer you also to this page from the AGS website, where JoHn Richards speaks about other forms of Narcissus romieuxii and 'Julia Jane'  The photo of 'Julia Jane' on that page is the second one on the page, down a little on the left hand side.  This shows a large flowered very petunioide flower which is very pale and creamy yellow, in colour.

Anthony's flower, four posts above this, is, to my mind, while quite flat-faced, too yellow, unless this is a colour cast to the photo.   Tony's pot of lovely flowers is similarly too yellow, unless this too is a colour cast.
 JJ should, I believe, have flowers the coronas of which are pretty much flat in profile, flat to the spikey little petals behind. When fully mature and in a little warmth, the outer edges of the corona will roll back. It is hard to tell at which stage of growth Tony's flowers are, but I detect too much of a forward pointing flare for my definition of JJ.


Wonder if the BD will come in and  comment? 
 There is also this page in the old forum : http://www.srgc.org.uk/discus/messages/321/23059.html



Oops, I forgot to include the link to John Richards plant portrait in the AGS site......
JR descibes 'Julia Jane'  as having whitish spathes  and being taller and  larger flowered than romieuxii .
 
http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/Narcissus+romieuxii/12/

[Mick McLoughlin]

This is a picture from last year of what I have as 'Julia Jane'
Looks like the slugs have got the better of it this year

[David Nicholson]

Mmmmmm! I too would be interested in the BD's view.

[Gerry Webster]

Anthony's yellow plant might be 'Atlas Gold' though I don't suggest this with any degree of confidence.  I would think that the only people who could pronounce authoritatively on 'JJ' would be either Jim Archibald or someone who had a sample of the original clone directly from him. Or, as second best, a photograph of the original plant.
In his seed list Jim describes 'JJ' as "pale yellow......with large flowers , whose coronas open flat or even slightly reflex. The clonal name, of course, should not be applied to seedlings which will vary".  I have the impression that most of the plants offered in the trade as 'JJ'  are, in fact, seedlings.

I can almost hear Annew's cry of despair.

[Maggi Young]

Oops, I forgot to include the link to John Richards plant portrait in the AGS site......
JR descibes 'Julia Jane'  as having whitish spathes  and being taller and  larger flowered than romieuxii .
 
http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/Narcissus+romieuxii/12/

I have the impression that most of the plants offered in the trade as 'JJ'  are, in fact, seedlings

 I think you've got that exactly right, Gerry.

[Lvandelft]

I placed a picture of N. Julia Jane in the topic Mid Winter Flower Show.
The grower of it told me that it is a very good propagating bulb.
Another, very knowledgeable specialist here, told me that Joy Bishop is a difficult grower and has a bit darker colour.

On Daffseek is the following description and I hope it is allright when I show this here in the discussion 

Wild-collected selection of N. romieuxii, by J.C. Archibald #JCA805; Fl. large, light greenish yellow;
perianth segments narrow, tapering to apex, acute, with green at midrib, spreading or slightly reflexed,
twisted, separated; corona disc-shaped or very broad and shallow funnel-shaped, lightly ribbed,
paler than perianth, at times touched with darker yellow at base and rim, mouth a little wavy,
at times obscurely lobed, rim irregularly and shallowly crenate, at times recurved or rolled.
Later than others in same group, eg `Joy Bishop'. Resembles N. cantabricus var. petunioides.

On Daffseek are 22 pictures and the colours are a bit different, even from the same photographers.



(Edit by Maggi : here is the link to the DaffSeek pages:
http://daffseek.org/query/query-detail.php?value1=Julia%20Jane&lastpage=1

[Gerry Webster]

I have the impression that most of the plants offered in the trade as 'JJ'  are, in fact, seedlings

 I think you've got that exactly right, Gerry.

And I forgot to add that, even if they are not the real thing, they can still be very attractive plants & well-worth growing.

The plants photographed by Luit do not seem to have the "whitish spathe" mentioned by John Richards (is his plant true?) nor do the coronas seem particularly flat if they are compared with the coronas of 'Joy Bishop' in the plant identified by Joy herself in a thread last year.  Perhaps the shape of the corona  depends on the age of the flower, though I haven't noticed this to any significant extent in the 'ordinary' N. romieuxii I grow.

[Maggi Young]

They ARE ALL lovely, that's for sure. Some interesting pix and comments on this page from the Old Forum, too....www.srgc.org.uk/discus/messages/283/23192.jpg
 Including these beautiful pictures of the bulb John Forrest grows as 'Julia Jane' and which do equate with what I think is the right thing  ( by the way, I think John F uses a grey card as backing and this card appears more "mushroom" so I reckon the yellow colour is stronger than in real life  )
 but,  as I say, these are lovely pictures and show just  what makes JJ  different and sought after....

[Lvandelft]

Wow Maggi, Springtime seems to have started already in Aberdeen....
Need no coat anymore?? 

[Lvandelft]

ooops after posting this another picture...