A shameless plug for daffodils
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: A shameless plug for daffodils
- From: m* l*
- Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 12:43:10 PST
With all the recent talk of bulbs for mediterranen climates, I'd like to
mention narcissus. While generally regarded as those packages for
fall planting that show up at the Home Depot, grown en masse by the
Dutch, the various species Narcissus are most mediterranean in origin. With
a little research and experiment, it is possible to find varieties that do
well in virtually any situation most of us might encounter, with the
exception of year round deep shade.
I live in Sacramento, California, so a great many of the larger, showier
varieties so popular with true affecianados (members of the cult of the
daffodil) don't do all that well for me. It gets so damn hot here in the
central valley that many of the flowers bred over the years since 1874 (when
Peter Barr got the ball rolling) in England and Holland just kind of linger
and fade away after a few years in
the sun. Down here I stay away from the Trumpets and Poeticus sorts
and try to stick with those that have Narcissus tazetta or
N.jonquilla in their genetic makeup. I do grow a multitude of the
other sorts up in the foothills, where the summers are about a month
shorter, a little cooler, and a lot shadier (more trees).
So if you're looking for bulbs that will thrive in hot, dry summers,
you could do a lot worse than half a hundred Golden Dawn, Avalanche,
Matador, or Geranium (all cheaply and easily obtained tazettas).
Most daffodils have little or no chilling requirements, and many of
the older varieties still available will naturalize in full sun to
high or part shade, with no summer water. An additional bonus with the
tazettas is outstanding fragrance. I personally prefer the scent of Golden
Dawn to anything I grow, with the possible exception of the Austin rose
Evelyn.
Those of us in northern California are particularly well served by the
Northern California Daffodil Society with a web site at
http://www.daffodil.org/
and their series of annual shows that are listed on the site.
There's one at Murphys this weekend and one at Fortuna the weekend
of the 25th and 26th. The shows are an oppotunity to painlessly
survey the wealth of variety available in modern daffodils. A word of
caution though, beautiful show flowers do not always make the
best garden plants, and most of the new ones are somewhat pricey.
An outstanding source for bulbs of the tazetta type narcissus is
William Welch, the self professed bulb baron of Carmel, who has the
good sense not to have a website. His address, last time I checked,
was P.O. Box 1736, Carmel Valley, California 93924. I've also had good luck
with Brent Heath at http://www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/
but generally speaking bulbs grown here in California will adapt
more quickly to our conditions.
Yours most respectfully,
Michael Larmer
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