Thursday 9 March 2017




 Early season daffodils bloom cheerfully in late February/early March. There are reckoned to be around 25 species of narcissus in the wild and from these plant breeders have cultivated literally thousands of varieties. In my opinion they tend to be either nondescript or gaudy but the simple crosses between wild species can be very nice in their own right.
 'February Gold' (top) and 'Tete a Tete' (bottom) both have N. cyclamineus as one parent. The former is said to be x pseudonarcissus and the latter x tazetta. 'Rapture' (middle) is clearly a cyclamineus hybrid but with what does not seem to be stated anywhere. In fact it looks like a larger version of the original which is rather dainty at about 6"/15cm tall.