Help with ID?

I believe this is an heirloom paperwhite. They have been here as long as i have, and have no idea how long before me. Some of the foliage gets upwards of 1 1/2 ft tall..Smell is divine.
Jen
thanks

Lovely plant, MSJen!!!!

Do they increase from yr. to yr. also?

Enough so you would have extra to trade in the spring?

Maxine

It is either OMRI or YAEL.......my money is on OMRI.

I emaileda bulb company this morning with the pic and Chris said he/she was sure that it was Minor Monarque.
I'm off to check look at the pics of the 2 above.
Maxine, i have a gazillion of these..i'm sure they have been here forever and have formed nice clumps all over the yard.
jen

This message was edited Jan 15, 2005 7:09 PM

Wow, check out this letter i received from them : ). I find this to be pretty exciting.

Hello Jen,

I am the ** staff member who is in charge of dealing with growers and potential sources for our bulbs. Thank you for sharing your photos and your interest in these bulbs with us.

I see from the emails that we identified your daffodil as 'Minor Monarque'. This is a variety that we donnot have in large enough quantities to offer in our catalog, but are very interested in saving. We would be interested in some of your bulbs this fall.
We need them to be dug and cleaned and sent to us in late September. We are a very small operation and do not have the facilities to store bulbs here. Let me know if you are interested we can make a deal to buy or trade you for these daffodils.

As far as the parrot glads go, those are also of interest to us, IF they are indeed parrot glad. Please send us a photo when they bloom. As long as the plant is healthy, true to name and can be delivered when we need the bulbs, we would like to work with you. The glads need to be delivered here at the end of March for our spring delivery. So, please send us photo of this glad and maybe we can work out something for the spring of 2006.

Thanks again for your interest and your help with these endangered species. Please let me know if I can be of any further help.

Regards,


This message was edited Jan 15, 2005 7:10 PM

Hey that is really neat!

Just got another email and she said they normally pay .60 cents a bulb....seems like thats pretty low considering they sell them for 3/$12.???
Maybe i should ebay them, lol?

MSJen, sounds like someone wants to use you. At first when I read the message, thought WOW, what a nice break for her. I think that I would question the offer.

Seems like there are always those kind of people around.

Maxine

I would say say so too considering i would sell 3/1.80? Holy cow, they would make a tidy $10.20 profit for every 3 sold?

MsJen,
Does your daffodils have single bloom per stem or several blooms per stem? Your daffodils are very pretty.
Patti

Several blooms per stem, each stalk is almost a boquet of flowers. The pic posted above is one single stalk.

Wow. Well if you plan to get rid of them on Ebay please let me know.
Patti

Looks like ebay is raising their fees. Just got back from the thread in general?
If anyone is interested in trading for these, email me and we'll work something out.
Jen

Jen, I am interested in trading for some of your daffs. Only you are going to have to wait until April or May. Everything here is in deep freeze weather.

What are you intersted in?

Maxine

maxine,
i've already started tagging the ones that are blooming so i can find them again when they dont have blooms.
i posted in the plant trading forum.
jen

maxine,
i just checked on the zones and they list it as 8/9...i'm not sure they would do well for you in WI?

Not to support an outfit making exhorbitant profit off of you, MsJen, but **** is a very well-respected company. Mostly because of their genuine interest in saving rare varieties of bulbous plants. One thing to keep in mind is that they do have overhead to pay to sell their products (employee salaries, computer systems, website/advertising, lease, utilities, etc). One would have to cover these expenses plus insure a profit in order to remain in business.

Maybe you should "counter offer" them for say $1.25 a bulb siting the fact that you have to do all the labor of digging and cleaning plus shipping. Also, I would ask that they cover the cost of shipping to them. (I would imagine it could be a heavy box or two).

Of course, you can also help "save" this rare plant by trading with fellow DG'ers. What an honor to know that you have there a rare plant that is in need of saving for future gardeners.

This message was edited Jan 15, 2005 9:43 PM

MSJen, I think that lets me out of the running!! Its a very cold zone 4a here today. It did reach 0 thou. Have to be happy with small miracles.

Maxine

Langbr,
I have offered them up for trade under the plant trading forum. I do have way too many and it wouldnt hurt to trade some off.
Heck, as many plants i GIVE away, i could probably even see me sending them to them for "sase"...lol.
I love their site and love the fact that they are trying to save the rare ones, but i think i did feel a bit insulted by the offer considering what they sell them for.
I think to ease my mind, i WILL send them a box of 50 or so and call it a day.

I'd sure make them pay for shipping.

Langbr.
Do me a favor and edit out the companys name from your thread. I did it on mine aleady. You are right, they are a very respected company and it wasnt my intention to bring negative thoughts their way.
thanks
jen

Done!

Thanks

Here's a description I found online:

GRAND MONARQUE, 1798 RAREST


Prized since the days of Napolean, ‘Grand Monarque’ features informal clusters of sweetly fragrant white and yellow flowers. “Magnificent as grown on the Riviera and in Algiers,” E.A. Bowles reported in the early 1900s, and today it’s especially favored in the Mediterranean climates of the West Coast. Aka ‘Nosegay’, 8W-Y, 18-20 inches, zones 7b-9S/11W, from California.

boojum,
Yup, thats it.....the smell is so sweet. Thanks for bringing this back up. I had planned on emailing them with a counteroffer.

Hi my name is Melody and I would like to know if I may buy some from you when you decide on a price. Thank you for the consideration.

Melody

I think you should sell the company some. It sounds as if they want to save them, to get them back into peoples gardens. Give her half a dozen or so and then sell as many others as you want, to others.

Up here in Canada we sometimes have lily people who ask us for something or other. Usually a historical lily that they want to save and bring back into production. We don't usually sell, we do a swop up here.

Sometimes we get a request on our cold zone list for a whatever. If anyone has it, we usually give it to the grower who wants it. We feel it is in all lily hobbyists interest to keep, find and grow as many historical lilies as possible. Same with iris. Sounds like it is the same with your bulbs too. 1798, that is so exciting that you have such a historical plant.


Not long ago, pounds and pounds of lilies were wanted for an on-going lily beetle project. We didn't sell them, we gladly gave them.

Inanda

I think the thing that amazes me the most about these is that the grow everywhere around here. Driving to work i see different patches here and there...sometimes in someones yard, other times where there used to be a house.
Its hard to understand how something "so rare" grows so abundantly here. Same with alot of other old daffs. I have about 5 or 6 more varities that i need them to ID. One is a double that i thought was a Van Sion, but i'm not so sure. It makes more of a puff with green and yellow petals...its pretty, in an ugly way. Then there is the one that has a single yellow flower with almost an onion type foliage, the ones with the blue foliage....the list goes on.
I'm not going to sell them to them, i will "donate to the cause' for nothing more than postage return. I think its pretty cool how they are trying to save the species and, although i did feel insulted at first about the "buy/sale" rate, i'd rather just let them have them. If anything, for them ID'ing it for me.

Where can I find historic daffodils/narcissi online? I just bought and planted some unidentified bulbs on the lily auction that I hope will survive here (5a). I didn't realize that some bulbs might need a warmer climate. I need to ID them.

boojum - I'd start with Old House Gardens. They sell rare bulbs.

http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/39/

Boojum,
Those are awfully cute and look similar to mine. Are they blooming now? Old house gardens does carry a wonderful selection of heirloom bulbs, they are also a highly reputable company.
I didnt realize either that some daffs only liked the warmer climates, that actually suprised me. But then again, we can't grow tulips here because it doesnt get cold enough for them.
Were yours sold as heirloom?

Boojum -- I'm curious if you bought those from "buggycrazy" on the Lily Auction?

Yep, buggycrazy. Did you buy them too?
Here is the description:

UNKOWN MINI DAFFODIL, SMALL WHITE WITH A YELLOW CUP.
This is a short, 12-15 inches, daffodil with white petals and a yellow cup. It is great in the border due to the short size, very vigorous and a fast multiplier. Early blooming, mid to late march here, weather proof!

I like that weather proof comment!! And they were grown in OR.

MS, it made me laugh to think of them blooming today-we are expecting 12-24" of snow today and tonite!! They won't bloom till mid April. SHHHHHHH! They're sleeping!

Morning Jen. Am so glad you will give the company some. Makes me feel much better. You might offer some to Scott at Old House Gardens. He is a great guy. Came and spoke to us a few years ago. Think he might be interested in them. Go look at Gene Bush website too.
http://www.munchkinnursery.com He has many unusual plants & bulbs, mainly shade things. Do your daffs do just as well in the shade. Am sure you could do a swop with Gene. He is a great person.
Inanda

Inanda,
I'll check in to those. Gosh knows there are plenty enough to go around.
There are a few clumps that are blooming in the shade, although with the bare trees there isnt much of a shade covering.

boojum - nope I didn't buy those, but did plenty other of her narcissus and lilies!!! She's one of my favorite sellers.

Langbr, that's good news! Do you think most of her bulbs will be okay in zone 5?

I'm technically a Zone 5, but feel my microclimate is more Z6. I think you'll be fine. Did you ask her or did she list these particular bulbs hardiness? If not, you might ask her. She may have had previous customers that she's sold these to that she's gotten or could get feedback from. Lisa is great to talk to and really loves her plants.