Growing Daffodils In The Garden

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Who are the “onion” ones in general, and the narcissus in particular?

Narcissus poetic

Already in late autumn, an enthusiastic gardener imagines a spring garden in bloom … Moreover, he has already planted bulbs of the most spring and joyful flowers - crocuses, tulips, daffodils. Do we know well about the secret, "underground" life of these amazing plants?

Bulbous and corms have been grown in gardens since time immemorial. For Europeans, bright flowers blooming in early spring were of great aesthetic importance. These exotic plants first came to Europe from the Eastern Mediterranean (tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses), and many miniature species came to gardens from the forests of Southern Europe, the foothills of the Caucasus (snowdrops, beetles, white flowers, muscari, pushkinia and others).

It is the flowers of bulbous and corms that adorn our gardens in early spring and autumn with the brightest colors, various forms and their aroma. Moreover, they are unpretentious and accessible for growing even by inexperienced gardeners.

Gardener's guide

Plant nurseries Stores of goods for summer cottages Landscape design studios

Bulbous - the name of this group of flowering plants comes from the name of their storage organ - bulbs. A bulb is a modified shoot, where the stem corresponds to the bottom of the bulb, numerous juicy scales attached to the bottom are modified leaves. In the center there are thicker juicy scales, closer to the periphery they are thinner, and the outer scales turn into thin translucent films of light brown color. When the onion is dried, they are easily separated. The shape and size of the bulbs depend on the genus, species and variety of plants, as well as on age. Lateral bulbs (babies) are formed in the sinuses of the scales, attached to the mother bulb at the base of the bottom.

Real bulbs have: narcissus, tulip, hyacinth, lily, hazel grouse; small-bulbous plants - galanthus, scilla, pushkinia, chionodoxa, bird plant (ornithogalum), white flower, decorative bows, pavonia tigridia (blooms in August - September, does not overwinter in open ground). All these species reproduce by children, and small-bulbous ones - also by seeds (self-sowing or special sowing with freshly harvested seeds in summer, or before winter).

Narcissus split-crown

One of the popular bulbous plants is the daffodil (Narcissus). Daffodils (family Amaryllidaceae) are among the most beloved plants in the whole world; these flowers have been grown in gardens since ancient times. Theophrastus gives a description of the narcissist 300 BC. It was cultivated in Ancient Egypt, Iran, Ancient Greece, Rome. Ancient Oriental poetry praised daffodils as much as roses. Narcissus is indeed one of the most beautiful flowers in the world of plants, and the origin of the legend about Narcissus is understandable - a young man who saw himself reflected in a mirror of water, fell in love with him and died of exhaustion, unable to take his eyes off him …

The words of the prophet Mohammed are often quoted: "Whoever has two loaves, let him sell one to buy a daffodil flower, for bread is food for the body, and daffodil is food for the soul." The Persian king Cyrus called the narcissus "… the creation of beauty - an immortal delight." The ancient Romans honored the winners with wreaths of yellow daffodils.

In China, in ancient times, it was considered mandatory to have a daffodil in every home on New Year's. These flowers were used to decorate altars and used in religious rituals. In one of the Chinese provinces - in Canton - it was a tradition to grow daffodils in glass cups filled with water, stones or sand. Flowers in such bowls were surprisingly fragrant, blooming for a long time. In England, these sophisticated flowers are loved even more than traditional roses. Daffodil bulbs are more expensive on the world market than tulip bulbs.

The range of use of these plants is very wide: from soil planting in landscaping, cutting, forcing in winter and to container culture. The modern register contains more than 30 thousand varieties of daffodils of various garden groups. About 900 breeders in almost twenty countries of the world worked on the selection of daffodils at different times (most of all - in England, Holland, New Zealand, USA, Australia). In addition to decorative value, these plants have their own "niche" in medicine and perfumery - their alkaloids and essential oils are in demand in these industries.

Notice board

Kittens for sale Puppies for sale Horses for sale Terry

narcissus

Botanists have about 60 species of wild daffodils, distributed mainly in the Mediterranean and Southern Europe, distinguish eight groups. Among them there are many-flowered forms: jonquillia, tacetta (also especially fragrant), triandrus with 5-7 drooping flowers, the "petals" of which are bent upwards, often twisted; cyclamen, as well as daffodils of autumn flowering (Narcissus graceful, Narcissus late, Narcissus green-flowered).

Natural forms serve as the initial material for crossing and obtaining new forms and varieties with the richest palette of colors, the most varied color and shape combinations of "petals" and tubes (crowns) of daffodil flowers. Varietal daffodils according to the international classification are divided into 12 groups (tubular, crown, small-crowned, double, triandrus, cyclamen, jonquillia, tacette, poetic, species (they are short, bloom early, grow for a long time in one place, are used on slides, in rockeries); split-crown (butterfly daffodils); rare forms and hybrids not included in other groups).

The advantages of this culture are obvious:

• unpretentious, exquisitely beautiful, fragrant. The flowers of some varieties from the cut-crown group are extraordinary in shape and resemble exotic orchid flowers, azaleas;

• perennial bulbs, in one place they can grow for many years (more than 4);

• bulbs are poisonous and therefore are not damaged by mice in the autumn-winter period;

• effectively and intelligently plant daffodils among tulips, lilies, small-bulbous, rhizome perennials - their toxicity serves as protection for other garden flowers. Of course, you need to work with daffodil bulbs only with rubber gloves.

Read the next part. Reproduction, planting and caring for daffodils →