Miniature narcissus recommendations

Mite is pretty much the next best thing to cyclamineus. They are all delightful.

I just bought 10 Pipit bulbs.

Boojum, where are you planting all your miniatures? They just make me smile every morning.

Galanthophile, I will order 'mite' if it is still available. It will look like it belongs on our wind swept island. Patti

They will all go in the rugosa area near the big barndoors. That is now my closeup garden.

Perfect spot! I will come pat the little darlings next spring. Patti

It's a date!

Hi, I am pretty new to Dave's Garden. I was so thrilled to find your discussion - it was like stepping into wonderland! I don't know anyone around here who obsesses about bulbs like I do, so it's great to be able to learn from experts and bulb fanatics! I live in Athens, GA, so with the heat, humidity, and drought, I don't expect the same results as some of you in the North. I have Scott Ogden's book on bulbs for Southern gardens; I keep his comments in mind, but will try anything. As far as miniature daffodils go, I have never grown (or seen) hoop petticoat daffodils. Do they multiply readily? I keep meaning to order some, but I always have to pare down my list for financial reasons, and they always seem to be cut before the final order. Do you recommend them? Also, I planted some scilla a long time ago, but they were so tiny they didn't even seem to show up as "socks," so I have never ordered minor bulbs again (except lots of Muscari, my favorite, which isn't really minor, I guess.) Does Puschkinia libanotica make more of a visual impact?

Hi so glad you found us, too, Ify! Always happy to find a friendly addict. I can't grow any bulbs but narcissus here due to voles (but I can grow tulips right near the house cause they are scared to eat there! I like t. turkestanica the best.) My lily gathering days are over thanks to the red lily beetles that destroy my lilies every year. I have some scilla naturalized on the hill under the big apple tree here and they have increased each year. I have lots of plain muscari, too and iris reticulata 'Harmony' cause you can never have enough blue as far as I'm concerned!! I only have 1 Puschkinia libanotica on the property but I do love it! I would think it would make a good show en masse.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/70853/

Does your M. armeniacum come back every year? In the South it is more like an annual, I'm afraid. I have planted big drifts of Thalia wherever I can, and at first surrounded it with muscari (like the picture in the Van Engelen/John Scheepers catalogues), but it didn't come back. I have some M. neglectum that comes back, but it doesn't give the same effect, and is more expensive. Back to small narcissus, I have Tete a Tete, but have recently added "Jenny" which I like. I also have Itzim, but it is too bright for my taste. Also, they mislabeled it, so it went into the "wrongest" place possible. I don't think I have any true miniatures, but I do crave Rip van Winkle.

My muscari come back and spread. Guess those bulbs are happy here in the cold.

The nice thing about muscari is...you can find them when you're planting new bulbs or digging out old perennials. I just gave away an 'Endless Summer' that was too big for my limited space. Imagine my horror to see cross sections of my dogtooth violet ('Pagoda') in the hole. I am comforted by the fact that the little beauties spread quite nicely.

That is upsetting. I usual use a pitchfork for that reason-more bulbs have less damage. I just transplanted a peony that was surrounded with bulbs and none appeared to be disturbed. Phew!

Oh, I've been dreading digging up my peony for just this reason! I've put it off until late so the colchicum would finish blooming first. I'll have to give the pitchfork a try!
I just happened on an interesting little narcissus 'New Baby'-really looking forward to seeing it next spring.

This message was edited Oct 13, 2008 5:18 PM

Critter:

LOL... I'll look forward to your report! It's possible I might give in to temptation and order a few myself, in which case we can compare first-blooms! :-)

Sorry I can't help with those, but I can report that 'Rip van Winkle' started blooming at about the same time as the 'Blue Shades' anemones I planted with them... they did bloom together for a while (as hoped), and the combination was wonderful. Some 'Woodstock' oriental hyacinths bloomed in that little bed at about the same time, and from this photo it looks like some Chionodoxa got in on the action. :-)

WONDERFUL, critter! Everyone's fantasy of how bulbs should look!!

:-) This was the first year for that tiny island bed (around the base of a dogwood planting). I'm hoping the daffs etc. increased for next year , but I'll be happy if most of them just come back!

Hi, favorite bulbsters!

Haven't been posting here since I have been nursing the misery from my bulb 'crop failure' last year, but still can't resist drooling over all your daff planting schemes today.

Have been trying to resist buying bulbs due to infestation of deer, moles, squirrels, etc., that I can't seem to get under control, BUT...

FYI (for those who also have too many four legged visitors and don't want to serve up such an expensive bulb buffet to them), I did shop at Costco over the weekend and bought their pack of 76 bulbs of 'rock garden blend' which includes separate packets of Tete a Tete, Jetfire, canaliculatus, and Minnow miniatures for $13.00 for the whole batch. (I confess I bought some other bags of bulbs there, too.)

I know these aren't the rarest and most cherished varieties, but for the Costco price I can't beat it for a dash of early spring garden 'sunshine'.!

Also, (ever the bargain hunter), Van Engelens offers their "Rock Garden Collection" at a bit of a discount and it may still be available at the end of season sales http://www.vanengelen.com/catview.cgi?_fn=Item&_recordnum=6141&_category=Special%20Collections for a very attractive price.

I will have to live vicariously as far as 'boutique' bulb buying goes...I'm trying to really stay on budget (which is boring, I know),

Love your posts! t.

(As for 'muscari' I did make a new thread, asking about that, if anyone wants to comment.)

OK, I think we need to join Costco. Have been considering it anyway... LOL Sam's has some good deals too, but Costco seems to be better with the garden stuff.

I guess it's time to search my email and see if I can figure out when the VE sale started last year... anybody remember? Brent and Becky's I think is the week after Thanksgiving. Sorry, I know I'm straying off topic... we should probably start a thread to track the fall sales! :-)

tabasco . . . I planted Tete-a-tete last year and they are very nice. Didn't get them in until Christmas however so they were late-- at their peak the first week in May. That would have been OK had I not planted them in the lawn. Looked a little ratty out there and I may have mowed them down before they got enough nourishment to come back.

I'm late to this party but I love Pipit. don't know if this is relevant since I live in the south. but, i luv it

critter...Costco is excellent. In her book Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers, Amy Stewart writes about importers who sell to Costco. She quotes one as saying if Costco finds out a vendor did not give the company the best price and top quality merchandise, they are dead. Costco will never buy from them again. Unlike many grocery stores, Costco does not display flowers and other plant material where ethyene gas from produce or cheeses will shorten their life.

hiya T, long time no see

Critter, My order was submitted on Nov 20th for Van Engelen sale last year and to Brent and Becky on Nov 27th (but not as big a discount from BB as the previous year- only 25%). Then they had another sale a week or so later that was a bigger discount as I recall. Bleek (eflowergarden and Touch of Nature) had great sales too in early Dec. ( 50 tete a tete for 12.00 and 100 Muscari Armeniacum for 5.00 etc) I found another great sale in Dec from Bulbmeister,. It was an e-bay auction, but I got some amazing prices Crocus chrysanthus 'Herald' - 25 Bulbs $4.26 - Crocus chrysanthus 'Miss Vain' - 200 Bulbs $5.51- Iris 'Katharine Hodgkin' - 50 Bulbs $16.13 - Iris histrioides 'George' - 75 Bulbs $2.25 - Iris reticulata 'J.S. Dijt' - 75 Bulbs $8.51 - Narcissus VIII 'Golden Dawn' - 30 Bulbs $5.50. I will be keeping an eye out and will post about any that I run across. Patti

Thanks, Patti! I appreciate the additional info on Costco, also... yep, I think we need to sign up. :-)

Alright y'all! I've already killed myself with the bulb co-ops...just got the last box this week...and here you all are talking about bulb sales! What's a poor helpless bulb buyer to do?? And now Costco, too? Hey Jill-somebody throw me a lifeline before the DH gets me, lol!

Costco has bulbs online too:

http://www.costco.com/Common/Category.aspx?search=bulbs&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&N=4018713&whse=BC&in_dim_search=1&eCat=BC|50126&topnav=

Deals aren't at the Van Engelen level but close. Waiting to see if importers dump inventory at Costco's online store in November.

FYI The bulbs I purchased at the Costco store here were priced quite a bit lower than the ones they show in their online catalog.