Narcissus March 2007

[fermi de Sousa]

Mark
the Italian dessert may be "Cassata"; I have one by that name but can't remember if it looks like your pic.
cheers
fermi

[mark smyth]

you are correct

[Joakim B]

Thanks Mark
There where both nice narcissus and nicely vulgar ones if I may say so.
I love them both 
Joakim

[Armin]

Mark,
Nice pictures but I dislike split coronas. They are ugly.
Rape of nature.

[tonyg]

I am with Armin on the split coronas!

Here are is Narcissus nevadensis flowering here.

[Maggi Young]

Specific Genera / Primula / Re: Primula March 2007  on: March 25, 2007, 06:29:49 PM 
Quote
Mind you, nearly everything looks nice planted with small daffodils....

Yes, that's true.... especially erythroniums and little rhododendrons!!

We saw a garden last night when walking Lily that had mixed clumps of daffs in the lawn... some clumps of larger types, some of small ones and some of mixed, large and small.... you'd think it might look odd, but it was very attractive and not the usual thing you see.

For reasons which now escape me, i made this post the other day in the primula thread! Here is the fuzzy flash pic to show the mixed clumps of daffs in the garden we saw...

[mark smyth]

I like it

[David Nicholson]

Dear Mrs Young,

about the house I own in Aberdeen and therefore the intellectual property rights on such dwelling and its grounds. I am sure we shall be able to reach a suitable pecuniary agreement in respect of your recent photographic expedition. My Accountant will be in touch forthwith.

Yours very sincerely, and financially productively,

Fred Splodge (Knight of this Realm which I am reliably informed currently includes Scotland)

[Maggi Young]

Dear Lord Splodge,
I will be pleased to hear from your solicitor but would venture to ask you, before you proceed further with this matter, if you are familiar with the saying "like getting blood from a stone"?
Yours, in poverty,
M.Young (Mrs)

PS I do like your garden!

[Armin]

I am with Armin on the split coronas!

Here are is Narcissus nevadensis flowering here.

Tony,
thanks for sharing my opinion. Your N. nevadensis is striking tall.
What height in cm has it?

[David Nicholson]

I have a clump of 20 Narcissus "Little Jem" from Garden Centre bought bulbs but have had only one flower and all of the leaf tips are quite brown and withered. The question is should I feed 'em and hope they are better next year or dig up the clump and start again with a fresh stock?

[David Nicholson]

Some of you may have read a post I did on the General Pages on a visit to Cotehele House in Cornwall (see http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=338.0   ) In the post I mentioned that the area around Cotehele was (and still is to an extent) used for commercial daffodil production and that the verges and hedgerows are said to be full of very old varieties.

On a more recent visit to Cotehele I picked up a national Trust publication entitled "Phoenix, Pheasants and Fortunes-the Story of Cotehele Daffodils" which gives quite a bit of information on those old varieties. Unfortunately I picked up the booklet on the way out rather than on the way in.

I don't know if information on old varieties is of any interest to modern day Narcissus afficianados, but, if it is I would willingly try to precis the information into 3/4 posts. Unfortunately the varieties available in the grounds of the House are not labelled and therefore apart from a guess I have made from the photographs I have taken, on two varieties, I have no supporting pictures.

What's the general view please??

[Maggi Young]

Old Daffs from Cotehele House What's the general view please??

Go for it , David!

The question is should I feed 'em and hope they are better next year or dig up the clump and start again with a fresh stock?

Re your Narcissus 'Little Gem', David....since you only got them last year, you really should have had more flower out ofthem if the bulbs had been grown properly before you bought them. If you had been growing them for a few years and they were dwindling, that is a different matter and I would suggest feeding them up. Because they are only one year in your ground and have only one flower and dodgy foliage, I would be suspicious that the bulbs were suffering some kind of infection or at the least , chronic weakness.  So, Dig 'em up, burn 'em and treat yourself to some new stock.!

[David Nicholson]

....... So, Dig 'em up, burn 'em and treat yourself to some new stock.!

And me a Yorkshireman, is there no alternative use for duff bulbs? Good advice Maggi, I will comply.

[Maggi Young]

And me a Yorkshireman, is there no alternative use for duff bulbs?

well, there is one use... daffs are pretty poisonous, so if you want rid of someone who is fond of onion soup.....................