The first spring flowers bring us joy after long winter months. Spring will pass, summer will pass, followed by Golden autumn, winter will come, and we will again look forward to spring. A special and honorable place, in my opinion, among the spring flowers daffodils is precisely because of all these, only the hyacinths have a strong scent, but without appropriate care on poor soils are rapidly being depleted — unlike daffodils, which show themselves to be true Spartans.
As would be good tulips, but mice, systematically destroying the created collection, at one time cool my interest in them, and in recent years, new varieties of tulips (mostly Botanical) only occasionally and selectively fall to my site. And daffodils do not attract the attention of rodents and only grow from year to year. Although it is recommended to dig them up and plant them in 4-5 years, I do not hurry to do it, and then they bloom, resembling scattered around the garden bouquets.
Only once — in the spring of 2003 — after severe and prolonged frosts in the absence of snow cover, some severely affected daffodils did not bloom, but then they recovered. Unusually prolonged for several months autumn 2006 also affected the flowering of daffodils, but suffered mainly only some of the varieties planted that autumn. They awoke prematurely and suffered from frosts, and growing not the first year didn’t give in to provocations and waited for spring.
Daffodils can decorate the garden for almost a month and a half, if you skillfully choose varieties of different flowering period. But in cut bouquets they are short-lived, especially in rooms with dry air and high temperature, but this lack is inherent in all primroses. Their main purpose is to please us in the spring garden.
I want to draw your attention to some very worthy varieties of daffodils that bloom in my garden and in the gardens of my friends. During the preparation of the article, it turned out that most of them were awarded by the Royal garden society (RHS) in different years with a special award for garden merits (Award of Garden Merit) and recommended to gardeners.
I would like to start with quite rare in our garden miniature varieties, as they open the season of flowering daffodils. I first bloom pretty crumbs — Narcissus cyclamen ‘Tete-a-Tete’ (RHS, winner of 1993), received its name for the fact that on one stem of this variety, as a rule, there are two flowers.
In my first flowering I honestly did not like these non-standard dwarfs about 10-15 cm tall, and only the next year I realized that they are also good for the garden, look good next to conifers and can be located on the Alpine slides.
After flowering this baby I start to blossom ordinary tubular yellow daffodils of unknown varieties. There are so many of them that I began to pull to daffodils of other colors. So were in the garden of the tubular varieties of Narcissus ‘Spellbinder’, bred in the 1940-ies, multiple winner of the exhibitions, with an unusual greenish-yellow flowers.
Among the tubular daffodils there is another is not a beginner, but an interesting variety – chameleon ‘Mount Hood’ (RHS, winner of 1995). Those who dream of snow-white flowers, get it from the pictures or from the hands of grandmothers in the last stage of flowering, when the tube turns from yellow to white, and the next spring does not immediately find that “snow-white” beautiful Narcissus.
But pure white is elegant and incredibly touching a daffodil exist! This variety ‘Thalia’, on each stem which can be about three flowers. I’ve only had it since last fall, but from my friend I heard this sort it is not very well propagated, so for him I’m still going to watch.
Tubular daffodils, as a rule, are very fragrant, but no less fragrant can be daffodils of other forms, among which are particularly attractive large-crow. A fine representative of large-horned daffodils is a fairly common variety ‘Ice Follies’ (RHS, 1993), bred by breeders of the famous Dutch company Konijnenburg & Mark. Snow-white petals surround a wide corrugated crown Chartreuse yellow, which gradually becomes white.
In this class there is a resilient Terry form — grade ‘Ice King’. It has such stuffed heads that sometimes after a rain they can break from the weight. With this variety I had no problems, but some other later Terry varieties in the absence of irrigation and rain, the embryos of flowers dried up right in the unopened covers.
For a long time among the shades of daffodils prevailed white and yellow, and now there was a breakthrough, and there are many varieties with pink crowns. You can even find a dozen varieties, the name of which is directly indicated – Pink or Rosy, which means “pink”.
Truly pure pink crown regardless of the stage of development of the flower has a tubular variety ‘Pink Parasol’, that’s just the growth of his small. And Terry and reminiscent of ‘Ice King’ grade ‘Rosy Cloud’ pale pink tightly knocked Terry crown.
The pink variety also includes ‘Precocious’ (RHS, 2001), although its corrugated crown is rather salmon-colored. This variety is considered one of the most attractive.
In my opinion, it can compete with the attractiveness of the variety with an unusually bright coral-orange crown — ‘Chromacolor’ (RHS, 2001). It has little grace, but a lot of attractive power.
Among Terry and pink there are very interesting varieties, the middle of the flower which resembles something layered lace, like the variety ‘Replete’.
There are varieties, which are only some part painted in pink as small-cut ‘Spring Pride’, which painted only the halo crown.
If pink daffodils are now represented by many varieties with a light green tint of the flower is still small. Therefore, fans of old daffodils, the so-called “poetic”, which bloomed in the gardens of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers and have a great aroma, it will be interesting to know that in this group there was a touching and elegant variety with a slightly perceptible hint of lettuce even on the petals – grade ‘Mint Julep’ (RHS, 2005).
I want to mention the grade is a chameleon of the group split crown with the intriguing title – ‘Changing Colours’. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to catch all three stages, when the crown of the flower changes its color, but the photos of the two stages of one flower could be made.
When the stores again begin selling spring onion flowers, I am sure that again I will not be able to resist some of the new products, as always want a new and beautiful in the spring garden. And what could be better than fragrant and touching daffodils?
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