Allotment almanac, part two. As well as planting wildflowers I cut an adjacent strip of grasses and planted a bag of 50 Narcissus February Gold (seen in flower in the second photo).
 As the name suggests they flower reliably early in the year being a very hardy cultivar crossing two wild species, N. cyclamineus and N. pseudonarcissus. They'll grow pretty much anywhere and stand tall whatever the weather.
 NB the photo below shows a bulb from another batch of bulbs I bought: Narcissus Tete a Tete which is also a cyclamineus hybrid of uncertain antecedents resembling a smaller version of the above. The reflexed petals of both provide the clue to the cyclamineus side of the lineage.
 It provides a good illustration how bulbs multiply by offsets. Most commercial growers separate them to increase their stocks for sale but I bought both varieties from Shipton Bulbs. Good people that they are they send the bulbs out offsets and all so the bag of 10 Tete a Tete I ordered came with 8 or 9 bonus bulbs.