Daffodils

'Butter and Eggs' looks a bit different (no green), my picture is the result of me playing with new camera (an not being very successful at it). All the spots on the foliage and the ladybug (well, the unintentional spots anyway) is because I had just foliar fed everything at my place. I try to do that 4-6 hours before it rains if I can--kind of doubles the effect. Rain is great for pushing bulbs into bloom.

Better 'Butter and Eggs' here:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/109921/

=)

Nice pics pupilprop, your first one does look like Tahiti. From pics I see it seems to vary a little.

Sealing Wax opening today.

That ones nice--I like the bright orange with the yellow--sure says spring. I'll have to add that to my list if its available in US and ok for down here.

Thanks Wallaby! Yours are AMAZING. I must get Rip Van Winkle and Jet fire and Sealing Wax and....crap.

I took another photo of the one that looks like Tahiti. The main skepticism I have is A. The color is much more pale than represented in the first photo. That is why I took another one. B. The petals are more pointed than the other photos, but I do know that all pics look different, just from this experience alone.

What do ya'll think.....

Wow, beautiful narcissi, everyone! Debbie, I like your ladybug - I could use one of those.

Our snow is mostly gone but dropped to 23 last night. I have to check my babies and see if they are OK.

We got hit last night and I didn't even know we were expecting anything. It was just a dusting, but enough to do damage. So, all my new buds I have been dying to see open are going to have frost bite. At least the hellebores like it. I am never going to see what all is in the yard.

Steve, those pictures make me cold! If it is white , and it aint beach sand, I dont want it!!!!

pupil, looks like you got just the edge of what we got. I think it ended up moving farther north. Still, has been cold here, especially at night. Even all of my tulips were hunkered over.

Very pretty, rylaff! No, unfortunately not sand here. A lot of people come down here thinking it will be balmy and tropical and they find out quickly it isn't!!!!

'Golden Dawn' filled out a bit more; lots of others budded up--looks like a really good Easter display this year. Not often the timing is right for that down here.

Very beautiful "Golden Dawn" daffs. Debbie - that is a great picture.

Very beautiful old doubles you have, Pupil - I love your Van Sion especially. Very nice job! -)

I think this is Butter and Eggs (?), but it doesn't look as good as yours. . I am SOO bad with labelling/ID-ing I am not sure the first one Pupil has is Tahiti - I have grown that and it is more "yellow" with orange specks.

I have some St Kevernes, Carltons and others here....

My favorite patch of St Keverne...

My Popeyes have started to open!

According to DaffSeek, 'Tahiti' can be rather variable:
http://www.daffseek.org/query-detail.php?value1=Tahiti&lastpage=1

wallaby, I love cantabricus cantabricus (sp?) from that miniature bulb site you provided. I wonder if that would grow for me.

You have some nice clumps of daffs Steve!

voss, I think you stand a very good chance of growing N. cantabricus, it's native to southern Spain, Algeria and Morocco. That means hot and often dry, if you have lots of rain that might be a problem.

http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=11254

I had one (yes one only, it was expensive!), it had one flower on and I had it in a pot in the greenhouse but it disappeared after the winter, maybe I should have taken it out and dried it.

hmmm. lots of rain, most years yes. also lots of humidity. my plants rot oh but my skin, so nice!

'February Gold' starting up--they may be late this year, but should look just perfect for Easter.

I have a week spot for white daffodils..
The very first narcissus 'Thalia' has opened today( in my brother's garden) It's one of my favorites;

i was hoping you guys might be able to help me. i am new to daffs, planted a whole bunch pretty much all over the place this winter. anyway, everything seemed to be going well, have had a bunch of different ones blooming already. however, i noticed today that there were a few bloom buds that were developing that are turing brown and the flower inside is shriveled. these plants are mixed in with many others in a raised bed that is very rich and drains well. everything seems to be doing really well in the bed. i was hoping you guys might have some idea. here is a post of the bed with some of my earlier blooms.


tracie

I am interested in an answer to tracie's question. I experienced the same thing. Wondering if rains ruin the blooms.
Bonitin, "thalia" definitely a fave of mine. wouldn't it me nice paired with the cantabricus cantabricus,and then right next to it a big cupped white one?

Note to self: get different flower shaped daffs and plant together next year.

Tracie,

I bet you that those were the double flowered varieties???? Do you know?

I love Thalia bonitin, they increase so well and look so pretty. Mine are in bud, but today is only 6C with very cold northerly winds. We had a good lot of rain so I doubt the cold weather will stop them for long, it's spring! lol.

aggie, my feeling is the trouble will be in the bulb. As you have only recently planted them it's unlikely to be the Narcissus Bulb fly, Meredon equestris, but it could be.

http://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG136/fly4.html

I had all 4 different subspecies of those last year, on top of the Lily beetle it seems we are all suddenly being invaded with pests. They resemble bumblebees, very colourful and make a loud high pitched buzz rather than a humm like a bumblebee. As they will attack other bulbs, but prefer narcissus, there may be some already in your other bulbs in the bed, that is if they were already there. The larvae is said to live in the outer layers, but I found one in a hippeastrum species bulb I brought inside from the greenhouse over winter. It had eaten a large hole to the centre, and made another at the side where I found it tucked in but was open to the compost, so they could easily travel and are quite large. Alternatively, the bulbs may have come with larvae already inside.

There may be other reasons, some are more susceptible to basal rot which would affect the flower,

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4_kH_BffGDgC&pg=PA102&lpg=PA102&dq=narcissus+bud+rot&source=web&ots=hcX5g_K7DY&sig=WK9jbUvTHsIYISp_ZeyP8qOBPWw&hl=en

Bud necrosis can be a problem in double flowers which are forced, the conditions they have been kept in prior to you getting them, or your particular conditions may have contributed.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%27narcissus+Bud+necrosis%27&meta=

There are several bulb diseases on this link,

http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:tKxUvVE5TWEJ:hgic.clemson.edu/pdf/HGIC2103.pdf+%27narcissus+bud+rot%27&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=uk

It might be a good idea to lift those affected to see what might be happening, if they look diseased it would be advisable to destroy them. If they look OK you can plant them again and let them die back, it shouldn't harm them too much.

I agree, bleek, I was going to ask the same thing. I have had them "blast" when it gets really hot and the flower buds fill up with air and "pop" if you squeeze them. Normally I wouldn't see it this early, though. We've had a couple of intermittent hot days but no long stretches of it. I did find it happening with some of the doubles I had that didn't bloom until into April.

I'm sure that would be a nice combination, Vossner, I imagine them with the background of lace like divided fronds of ferns like Polystichum setiferum, in filtered sunlight....

I found a gorgeous pict of N. cantabricus

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/791/842990.JPG. They are irresistible! But I should forget about it as it would hate all this wetness over here, it's pouring right now...

The daffs at our 2nd house have not bloomed yet. I was looking thru my garden journal and noted that exactly one year ago (to the date) my daffs were in full bloom. This year it will be another week before they bloom. Anybody know the reason for the delay? I would characterize 2007/08 winter as milder than usual in our area. Would it have anything to do with that?

The row to the left should be Replete, and the ones to the right are some noids that I rustled from a cemetery.

Vossner,

I have found that most spring bulbs for me almost always bloom later the second year than the first. Why they do that? I suspect that especially in the south, the climate change from where some of them were raised causes them to "think" it's spring earlier than it actually is, therefore stuimulating growth/bloom early th spring following planting. This is especially true if you've refrigerated your bulbs. The second spring, they seem to settle in and resume a normal timetable for the area. This is a big problem for me especially with lilies planted early, which sprout early the following spring. I have several that came up too early this year and I am sure the freezes damaged the flowerbuds beyond repair for this year's bloom cycle.

Thanks Steve. now that you mention it, I had noticed lilies are anywhere from 1-6" tall already.

thanks for the explanation. We need to go back to the house in 1 week or so; hopefully I will be able to get some nice picsk.

Vossner,

Let me know how many double cups you get in replete? Are these newly planted?

Bert

I will, Bert. They were planted in Fall 2005. Have done well at our 2nd home, which is in zone 8.

Vossner, cemetery, huh? More than one way to skin a cat! I live right next door to the biggest cemetery in Denver. Hmmmmmm....

Hi Miss J. Newer cemeteries are usually maintained by the county and these days I don't think they allow family members to plant stuff. Makes it too labor intensive for these crews. The fun ones (if you can call a cemetery a fun place...) are the long forgotten ones where you can find roses, crinums, bulbs, etc.

But I wouldn't think the Denver one will house any of these finds. You have to go to the out of the way ones, and not by yourself!

The cemetery I live by is the oldest one in Denver (1890s), and the whole thing is planted in lovely stuff. It's an arboretum too, the largest one in Denver. I'm sure I can find something after closing time...

I want to see your Repletes in bloom, vossner - be sure to post pictures when that happens. And to find out what you ended up getting from the cemetery :-)

Here are my Popeyes, open in 2nd year. I bought these from WFF in 2006.

will do. Popeyes are lovely.

sorry, just got to the computer. the daffs were in a mixed bag, in this bed anyway. so, i am not sure if they would have been doubles or not. however, i have just started having several doubles open, so they very well may have been. it has been kinda fun to see the succession of different daffs bloom and the mixtures of them all together. first came a really tall variety, yellow with and large orange cup. them a smaller all yellow, prob carlton. the lastest are white with a pretty yellow cup that fades to pale yellow, arent those prob Ice King?, now i have two different varieties of doubles blooming. one is all yellow with uniform sized petals. the other has large and small petals. what really suprised me is how long it takes for them to open! one of the buds took days longer than i though and is not fully open yet. the smaller buds go from small bud to bloom fairly fast. oh, found a couple more dead buds today. they are brown and shriveled. poor babies!

tracie

this is a picture of my latest bloomers
No ID

That looks like Ice Follies, Tracie - it is the single version of Ice King. I have a bunch of Ice Follies and they're just starting to bloom.

thanks for the ID, Steve. it looks like they are Ice Follies, great to know!

tracie