Monday, March 24, 2008

The Stranger Daffodils

It is easy enough to say it would likely be best for it to stay cooler or cold for a bit longer so there will not a repeat of The Great Easter Freeze of 07. It is another thing entirely to go outside and feel it. It is snowing again and the temperature has dropped since I woke up this morning.

The warm sunny days in between winter events encourages more of the Daffodils to open and there are strange new ones showing up. I can't find one in the catalog that looks quite like this one. For now it will be nameless.















Another variety of the Cyclamineus Narcissus has opened, possibly 'Ara'.














A 'Peeping Tom' Cyclamineus perhaps. Keep in mind these are my best guesses from comparing them to pictures in a catalog. There is a good probability I am wrong on some of these cultivar names and who knows what kind of hanky panky these bulbs may have gotten into over the last twenty years. There may be some award winning new bulb of unknown parentage living on this mountain.













A vigorous weed, Henbit, Lamium amplexicaule is putting on quite a spring show. I have seen it in large colorful patches driving to town. Spots of it on the ridge top garden are adding to a cold sense of spring.













This Double form Narcissus is not quite fully open and the colors do change a bit over time. For now too, it will remain nameless. I should pull out more bulb catalogs for reference. There may be as many of those as there are bulbs.













I may have called this one 'Jetfire' to soon? Maybe it is 'Marijke', the trumpet/cup has deepened in color significantly over time.













The weather diagnosis calls for a low of 24 degrees tomorrow morning. So far the Daffodils have taken snow and lows just below freezing. I do not know if blooming Daffodils have a low below which they will not happily go. I am soon to find out. Still, there are about 9500 yet to bloom and this new round of snow and cold will not bother them. It should set the proper pace for their internal clocks and the peak bloom of the Daffodil extravaganza for mid April, another three weeks away.

12 comments:

Frances, said...

That is an astounding number of daffodils. Nice to see the planters appreciated variety. The first photo is beautiful, but have never seen anything like it. Is it the ones they call butterfly, or split cup? It has been snowing here off and on and has gotten much colder as the day progresses. We have lots of things in bloom, and are a little worried also about the flowers, no way to cover it all. At least the japanese maples aren't leafed out, like they were last year, and the yoshino cherry hasn't opened it's buds yet, it is later than usual, a good thing.
Waiting and watching with you,
Frances

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I like all of the unusual daffodils on your mountain.

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

How strange are they? ;^) I used to grow a split corona named 'Cassata,' but the corona was a much paler yellow. Might it be 'Gamay'? In any event, it is quite beautiful. Why don't I grow any of those anymore?

Christopher C. NC said...

I think the first one must be a Slit-Cup Narcissus and those are broken down into three further groups. Even the petals on the first one are some what off. I found another clump of the same flower so it can't be an accidental freak.

How strange? I don't know. I just know breeders can come up with some weird things for plantaholics across a broad spectrum of plants.

Frances when I was showing my mom some pictures on the blog, she pointed to the catalog and said I have this one and this one and this one and this one.....

Unknown said...

The double looks an awful lot like one from Pam's mother's garden (Tales from Microbial Laboratory blog) that I thought might be 'Replete.'

But as you say... who knows how much daffodil hanky-panky has been going on in the yard for the last 20 years. :)

Entangled said...

Have you seen the searchable database of daffodils at daffseek.org, run by the American Daffodil Society? I just searched for all the W-Y ones in division 11 and came up with 166 matches. When restricted to only those listings with photos, I got 73 matches. That's still an awful lot to look through, but may be of some use for those you haven't identified via catalogs.

I'm enjoying the show. Always meant to plant some split-cup narcissus and never got around to it.

chuck b. said...

Are Thalias the only fragrant Narcissus?

You'll have to tell us if you find any fragrant ones.

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine what I'd do with all those daffodils. I guess the point of naturalizing them is that you don't have to do anything.

"Crinumaniac" who (rarely) posts here is also a daffodil maniac, and in your neck of the woods. Most of the many cvv. pictured here are his.

Christopher C. NC said...

Thanks for the links MMW and that Daffodil site Entangled. I re-invited a Daffodil show judge I met last fall to come see the place. She has two shows to do and was in the middle of hybridizing her own miniatures, but was free by the middle of April when this place hopefully will be at its peak. If there is anything unique or unusual up here she may be able to spot it.

There is very much a do nothing attitude up here with the Daffodils. Neither the foliage or any seed pods are removed. By that time anyway the next wave of cultivated and wildflowers has engulfed them.

Chuck the Jonquilla Narcissi are said to be fragrant and there is plenty of thin foliage that must belong to them up here.

lisa said...

I think that first one is 'Replete' also (I planted some myself in the past). Great variety of bulbs you have! Are there tulips coming up eventually also?

Christopher C. NC said...

There are only two sizeable patches of Tulips coming up. Both groups have buds. Generally they are too wimpy and prone to predators for the crazy bulb lady to waste her money on them. She wants things that MULTIPLY!

lisa said...

I can dig that...if it weren't for spraying Liquid Fence regularly, I'd have nothing but chewed stubs!