Thursday, 13 March 2025




 Two early Narcissi. The first is 'Tête-à-Tête', the second is 'February Gold'. In fact neither flowered till March this year due to the the cold spell. They look rather similar as both have the reflexed petals of N. cyclamineus in the genes. 'Gold' is a cross with N. pseudonarcissus and quite tall like our Wild Daffodil. The ancestry of 'Tête' is obscure possibly x tazetta and it's daintier than 'Gold'.

 Postscript  Since writing this entry I have read that 'Tête-à-Tête' was cultivated by a British breeder Alec Grey circa 1949. It is said to be allotriploid i.e. contains two genomes of one species and one genome from another. In this case a cross between N. cyclamineus and N. 'Cyclataz' which is itself a cross between N. cyclamineus and N. 'Grand Soleil d'Or'. That last is believed to be an archaic cultivar of N. tazetta but its origins are unknown.