So *that's* what it was....

Since I moved into the house two years ago, patches of this really funky looking weed have popped up just about everywhere (sometimes nowhere remotely near a bed), usually around the end of Autumn/beginning of Spring. Now, they've just looked sickly and wilted every year, and tend only to grow a few months before something inside seems to tell them to shrivel up and die. When they stay in the beds, I let them be, but I've just been mowing over the ones that pop up in the middle of the yard.

Well. This year, they started growing early (good rain, as you know, these past few months). I decided, hey, why not let them grow for a bit, see if they can do anything this time around. And for the past week, I've been watching on with some curiosity as buds began to form. And then finally, this morning, I discover...that I've been mowing down paper-white narcissus for the past two years. Seems to have naturalized all over the yard, in fact. Now that I know what it is, I think I'll be digging it up and moving them into the same bed as the day-lilies and caladiums.

Hey, I'm new to this whole "plants from bulbs" thing. Seem to have had some remarkable luck so far, though. ;)

Very pretty ~ they are amazingly resilient. I have always heard if you move to a new place, not to mow but watch what comes up where... I see why! Let the foliage turn yellow and die before mowing or cutting back. The next year, you will have many more blooms.

What a neat surprise!!! Don't you feel blessed when you find something good that you were not expecting?
Josephine.

to me, that's the biggest appeal of planting bulbs. no matter how carefully I mark the spots, I soon forget, then a few months later, voila: beautiful flowers, bigger each year.

those are great. Maybe they need seperated to really come up good on a year that doesn't get as much rain.

Oh how wonderful! I have something I am keeping my eye on that is inside the new back fence... moved since the hurricane to right on my property line. It sure looks bulbish to me and I am anxious to see what blooms. Maybe it'll be spectacular!

maybe it's a crinum?;)

Yeah, silverfluter, I agree. Those leaves don't look like narcissus to me, but a new flower in the yard is still always a nice surprise!!

Actually I was referring to the mystery plant just inside the new fence. The picture at the top of the thread does look like it might be a jonquil. Somebody planted these under my live oaks many years before we bought the house. I didn't have any idea what they were, but somebody at a nursery here told me they were jonquils (similar to narcissus). The leaves are incredibly long. They go up about 1 1/2 feet, bend and hit the ground. I have a picture, but DH will have to help me negotiate the technicalities of getting it on DG.

I just checked out some photos of jonquils, and the flower is all wrong in my eyes. It seems to look just like whatever comes up on Google's image search for "paper white narcissus", albeit a bit long in the leaf.

Ok, I'm really frustrated. I can't get paperwhites or jonquils on plant files. How did you do that?

try narcissus http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=narcissus&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

I'd be thrilled if it were crinum! I just tried to sneak out to take a pic of the leaves but the camera said to replace batteries as soon as I turned it on. I'll try tomorrow. Long skinny just like the narcissus leaves. Might even be onions. LOL Oh well...if they are...I'll eat um !

And wow, I just realized I posted a picture of an unweeded garden. Even I'm ashamed of myself *hides face*

I am agreeing with Silverfluter on the Paperwhite Narcissius. I have had them since 1991 when I moved in this house. Here is the PF. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/62400/index.html
Like MacS, they came up and looked bad, never bloomed for a couple years when we first moved here, and do sometimes still do that. When the temperatures are mild, they start to bud, then a late freeze kills the bud, but not the plant, so they are only foliage. I have had better luck with them since starting to mulch heavier, and leaving leaves in the beds until the last frost. This year was nice because the cold weather kept the blooms away until just now in my area. Usually any freeze we have from now on is a mild one. The odor of this bloom is a whole lot different, very pungent and strong, doesn't smell sweet.
Edited to say, I hope your mystery bulb is a crinum, that would be a great surprise!

This message was edited Feb 26, 2007 7:14 AM

Here it is. All alone in the middle of nowhere.

That doesn't look like any crinum I ever saw. the leaves should be much wider and longer. My guess is a daffodil of some sort. Or maybe a spider lily. I have some mini spider lilies that look similar to that. The leaves don't stand up straight like daffodils.

I planted paperwhites this spring, just about 4 weeks ago. They are up and they have buds almost opening. My erlicheer daffs do pretty well. They get mostly neglect from me and I had to move them last year, so they are not real impressive right now, but they are up. Patrob gave me some daffs at the last RU. I think they were Cheerfulness. I was so surprised they survived my neglect all year. They came up and are fixin' to bloom.:) Thanks Patrob.!

Madeintheshade by the way, if you don't have a crinum you really should get one. One tough plant. I read a book by Greg Grant where he was talking about crinums. He said "No crinum has ever died." If you ever dig one of those things up, you'll know why too. A mature crinum has a bulb half the size of a baseball bat!

I'll get some for sure silverfluter. The only bulbs I have that were here when I bought this old house were some Red amaryllis which I have moved several times over the years and they do wonderful. The others I don't know what they are. They're on the greenhouse side that were moved when the pool deck went up so I got to see their bulbs too. The leaves get nearly 5 feet long so they don't stand up. But the most amazing thing was how big the bulbs were. They looked like cantaloupe ! Huge!!! Right now they are cut off and under the greenhouse bench up against the fence so I need to get under there and dig those up again and move them before they start growing again. They get beautiful pink flowers on them. Must have been here since this house was built 80 years ago to be that big.

The one with 5 foot long leaves might be a crinum. The leaves on mine probably get to be about 4 feet long and atleast 2 1/2 inches wide. I'll see if I have a picture I can post.

I moved them this evening. Already had leaves two feet long back under there behind my wagon. What a pain to have to dig by hand under there. But I got three out. I'm sure more are on the other side of the fence since it's new and in a foot from where the old one was. That's why I'm so excited about the mystery plant on the back fence making up for these of mine my side neighbor gets now. LOL I looked at some pics on google and I think you may be right. Hope I didn't disturb these too much and shock them for this year...I'll take some pics when/if they bloom.

I don't know that the mystery plant would be a Crinum, if you dug it up take a picture of the bulb and foliage and put it on the ID forum. They don't look wide enought. I got this Crinum from a Plant Swap and bloomed last year. I love it!

That's awsome Sheila! They are oustanding plants, but they take up a lot of space. And when they start multiplying, you better give them some room. I have 2 clumps that will have to be divided some day, but I'mgoing to put it off as long as I can. One of them needs to be moved to a more visible spot. I have to plan this out because I don't think I can get DH to move it more than once.