May 9, 2012

Daffodil Delirium



Daffodils are an essence of spring. They are the most pleasant plants in the garden, coming up and spreading early cheer each year without demanding any attention from the gardener. And deer won't eat them! The first daffs to appear are the February Gold above, though of course here in Vermont they don't bloom until April.




This densely filled double, touched with green, is a volunteer that's popped up here and there in my garden; I've been told it's an old fashioned variety.




Daffodils come in colors other than yellow, such as this with an apricot cup and white petals.






And the cups are large and small, long and short, and variously ruffled. The petals are rounded and pointed, wide and narrow. 




Some flowers, like this blowsy double, are deliciously scented.




This beauty, called Thalia, is pure white with the tiniest blush of greenish yellow at the throat.




A late arrival, coming at the same time as the narcissus, is this tiny delicate flower named Hawera, several blooms to a stem, nodding their pale yellow heads in graceful profusion. It's tempting to keep adding more and more daffodils to the landscape, but I've decided to stop; it is splendid long running show without any new characters needed.

5 comments:

  1. I too have Thalia and February Gold in the garden, both so lovely. And around the edges of the yard some of those old multi-petalled ones. I'd love to know who planted them, and when.

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  2. Altoon, and Estyn, I think every farm in Vermont has those double daffodils. I think they're ugly, but they don't care what I think of them! They just keep coming up and blooming at the bottom of the garden, and across the road where Marge King had her garden almost a hundred years ago. All your varieties are beautiful! I mostly just have the Poet narcissus from my great aunt, which smell better than anything.

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  3. It's funny...I used to think those double daffodils were ugly, but I guess I've gotten used to them. They're bright and funny and odd. I have some poet narcissus and another old fashioned variety that were here before me, but they haven't bloomed yet.

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  4. Gorgeous daffs! I have poeticus as well and this year added a double called Rose of May that is white and very fragrant.

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  5. I have bought an old farm on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire borders and these green flushed double daffodils are well established there. I was researching on the internet to try and identify them.

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