Yep, it is Friday, I have had a trying week, so it is geeky plant post time! I could really use a hug or several but retreating into the vegetable kingdom will have to suffice.
Many years ago, when I first started getting interested in bulbs, I bought a copy of ‘Narcissus, a guide to wild daffodils’ by John Blanchard. I was captivated by one of the photographs in this book, showing the naturally occurring hybrid Narcissus x susannae. This plant combines the best features of both parents, with slightly pendulous pure white flowers on short stems only a few inches tall.
This hybrid occurs in a few places in Spain where populations of the parent species, Narcissus cantabricus and Narcissus triandrus, occur close together. Both parent species are illustrated above.
Though both parents are common enough in cultivation the hybrid is sadly not. It is almost never offered commercially and gifts from friends have fared badly under my garden conditions. Their advice was to make the cross myself by hand pollinating the two parents – both of which I grow. The theory is that the surviving seedlings would be, by default, adapted to my conditions.
This sounds easy enough but in cultivation N. cantabricus flowers much earlier than N triandrus for me. So I removed an anther from N cantabricus and stored it in the fridge until N triandrus was in flower so I could make the cross. Then sowed the seed and waited. Three years later, in 2017, the first bulbs flowered. They were pure N triandrus so it looked like my attempt had failed and I had just achieved selfing. Much to my surprise and delight in February 2018 the remaining bulbs flowered and several were the beautiful hybrid!
Also this year an exceptionally nice form of N cantabricus flowered for the first time, from seed offered by the late plant hunter Jim Archibald, so I have remade the cross using this and we will see what happens in three or four years from now…
Beautiful flowers! Hugs to you ๐๐ท
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Hugs back to you Ellie๐๐
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Thank you! ๐
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Hoping you have a wonderful weekend!
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Thank you Jen. Halfway through Saturday. The sun is shining and the bees are buzzing๐๐๐
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They were well worth the time! ๐
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Wow super interesting I want to see what happens in 3 to 4 years too. Good luck I hope it works. xoxo Cris
http://photosbycris.blogspot.com.au/2018/03/gamiss-show-stopper-outfit-in-carrara.html
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Thank you Cris.
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Lovely, and virtual hugs to you.
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And to you๐๐
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More beautiful flowers, what a beautiful sight as we are ending winter and starting mud season. Many Massively Magnificent Hugs!!!! ๐ค ๐ค ๐ค ๐ค ๐ค ๐ค
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Mud season? We have that all year! Muddy hugs๐๐
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Our mud season lasts about a month or so. Pot holes, frost heaves, and mud puddles. All part of Springtime in Maine.
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Hugs Darren. Sorry I’ve been silent. I love the idea of a place where all these beautiful bulbs are indigenous! I know that they all come from somewhere (usually northern hemisphere) but the thought of a whole field of say, daffodils, is amazing!
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One of the curious things to me about the Australian flora is that there are so few indigenous bulbs despite your having huge areas of habitat with the classic Mediterranean climate they require. I guess evolution went in a different direction there. The spanish mountains are usually cold and wet at the time the wild Daffs flower so you wonโt find me there!
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Is that where daffodils are from?
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Most of them. Western europe generally with some outliers in the eastern med and in the mountains of North Africa but the genus is centred around Spain and Portugal.
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Hugs to you my friend ๐ Gorgeous flowers! I love the purity of this flower. It will be very interesting to see what blooms in 3 or 4 years! ๐๐
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Thank Lisa. That last one is more beautiful than the picture suggests. A very pure white. Hugs to you too!
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That is so cool that you did that and it is so beautiful! Can’t wait to see how the next one turns out!
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What a lovely talent to have, creating beauty and practising patience! Lovely post Darren.
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Thank you Marie๐
I can understand why there are so many Narcissus cultivars out there as they hybridise easily and there are so many possible combinations. But this particular cross occurring in the wild shows nature still knows best as it is gorgeous.
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I totally agree Darren!
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You’ve been nominated
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A big, computer generated hug to you Darren๐ And. love the flowers as always๐
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Yay! Hugs back to you! Thank you ๐๐
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Brillant! I am impress with everything you create and the amount of patience you have. I’m glad that it was rewarded. ๐
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Thank you Dominique๐โค๏ธ
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Thanks to you! ๐บ
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I adore white flowers – you have some wondrous specimens! Hope you found your hugs – we all need them always.. c
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Thank you Cecilia. Lots of hugs have been forthcoming๐
Hope to have pics of a lovely white Trillium tomorrow.
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Great! I will be back!!
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You are truly a flower god!!!
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๐๐ฅ๐
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These truly are magnificent! So glad your patience was rewarded, Darren! Sending you huge hugs to cheer you up! โค
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Thank you Sarah – hugs back to you!
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๐๐
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What a success for you! All daffodils are lovely. Exclusively beautiful flowers. It seems you are patient and very serious about obtaining some hybrids. Amazing. So, good when your idea and work results in something that beautiful!
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Thank you. I am very patient! I also can’t resist cross pollinating things to see what happens. On this occasion I had a specific outcome in mind๐
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That is utterly beautiful .. the purity is stunning. I want a garden full of them. Hope youโve had a good day today…. ?
Katie
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Thank you Katie๐
The week has improved as it has gone on. Today was busy but ok. We have our niece staying with us which adds an extra degree of stress but am coping so far๐
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Well done … keep going. I bet youโre good with nieces/nephews/children … ๐
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Actually I am hopeless and never know what to talk about. I didnโt like kids much even when I was one! She does seem to like me though. I reckon kids are like cats and are fascinated by people who are not comfortable with them!
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Ha! Youโre right … my husband is utterly foul to children and they adore him, canโt get enough of him and squeal with delight when he (rarely) plays with them. If itโs any consolation, I too loathed children when I was a child … they were foul to me because I wasnโt the same as them. Adults were safe so I stuck with them. Have a happy Friday ๐
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Exactly like me when I was a kid Katie! You have a lovely day too!๐
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