Re: Fragant Rose

In a message dated 1/16/03 12:55:06 PM Eastern Standard Time, Blee811@aol.com 
writes:


> Claire, you should get Dave Burdick's take on this daffodil. It sounds like 
> a 
> jonquil or poeticus type. Does the cup have a thin red rim on it?  Or is 
> the 
> flower solid white?  The jonquils and poets are typically what are found at 
> 
> old homesteads--they're very tough.

Dave B. is so in love with new hybrids and show bench plants, I would have to 
put a bunch in his pocket to get some attention.  He is totally besotted with 
daffodils.  Until the season is over, he is out in his field working on 
daffodils with a Mother's Day open house which is popular. 

My white plants are not poets, I do know those.  I have the old Pheasant's 
Eye, if that is correctly described.  These bloom here in June and are also 
very persistent.  I have found them in odd places, lined them out and 
produced new clumps.  They have tall stems and upturned flowers so are very 
desirable to my way of thinking.  I may like these best of all.

The white plants have stems carrying the flowers well above the foliage with 
a narrow neck that appears to have small swelling before the flower bud.  
Very common here with the double form looking similar but blooming later,  in 
early June.

Linda wrote:
<<<old homesteads--they're very tough."  I think I'll take issue with part
of that.  Yes, jonquils and poets are tough but at really old places, in
my experience, one is more likely to find mop-headed doubles like 'Butter
and Eggs' or 'Van Sion' (with lots of green on the back).>>>>

Van Sion - I have a mop headed plant, actually quite of a lot of it with 
green on the back of the petals.  It looks like multipointed star and is 
fairly short.  That is an old one, too.  I know I never purchased this bulb 
as I don't like doubles.  One thing is for sure, these old daffodils are very 
hardy and very capable of living on in heavy sod.  Mixed into field grasses 
they don't always bloom but they don't die.  You can find them in early 
spring as they emerge before grasses overwhelm them.  I dig out all that I 
find so the resulting flowers are always a surprise. While newer creations 
are welcomed by collectors, these old ones have charm and could live well in 
natural or wild gardens. When you plant them on sites with little or no 
competition, they multiply quickly.

The original gardener on my land started the garden in 1925.  It was fully 
neglected for 10 years before we started to replant it with a lot of field 
grasses invading her garden sites.  Of the plants that survived or revived, 
the daffodils are among the more pleasant to find and replant in the gardens. 
 I still find a clump near the woods now and then.  She must have taken 
surplus bulbs and planted them all over the areas she walked.  There would 
have been trilliums then and other spring wildflowers.  Those are gone to the 
deer with the daffodils remaining.

Claire Peplowski
NYS z4

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