23-12-2003, 02:12 AM
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Early Pearl
In article ,
pamfree (Zemedelec) wrote:
This cultivar of narcissus came with my house--one of the few flowering plants
there--and, as often, put in an early appearance a few days ago. Last spring
it had worked itself into such a huge clump that it barely flowered, and I had
one of those lightbulb moments, "It's gotta be divided. Free naturalized
narcissi all over the front patch." So I dug up a baseball-size knot of bulbs,
separated them, replanted, and as predicted they're raising their
cream-and-saltless-butter heads all over.
zemedelec
The earliest blooming Narcissus I have is called "Chinese Sacred Lily"
which doesn't know what winter is, so puts up fat narcissus-grass in
autumn & is very leafy in December -- leave fat & flat like butterknives
-- but it won't bloom until late January or early February. I've other N.
tazetta varieties that do seem to detect we have winters here & so wait to
appear. I don't think any will bloom in December here (zone 8), not
outdoors that is. Paperwhites & such narcissi as are sold for "forcing"
will bloom very early if planted out in the garden, but not as early as
December. The hoop petticoat narcissi are also very grassy in autumn &
winter (extremely slender grass), but even though they will bloom ahead of
the other early blooming varieties, it'll still be vastly closer to the
last days of winter rather than right now during the first days of winter.
How far south do you live? If "Early Pearl" gets a jump on even the
"Chinese Sacred" in my zone, I might look for it next year. Some of the
ones that bloom in winter in the deep south or gulf coast, however, are
apt to just rot in winter here, & need very high ground in fullest sun to
persist, & even then won't bloom as early as December.
--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/
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