Crescent Moon

Photo from last night's moon just after sunset:

'Pueblo', 'Pappy George', & others

This is the week of the white jonquil. I've never grown white jonquils before this year.

'Pueblo' was given by a kind member in Indiana when I joined the American Daffodil Society. It appears similar to 'Trevithian' or 'Sweetness' (see earlier posts), except it is white and the flower stalks are shorter. It has a nice fragrance.

Narcissus 'Pueblo' 7 W-W

There was another white jonquil given to me by the American Daffodil Society. 'Nancegollan' is the name. Only one bloom has opened so far, but it withered in a day, so I didn't photograph it. It looked similar to 'Pueblo', but was a little smaller and narrower.

Next up is the white jonquil 'Sailboat'. It also looks similar to 'Pueblo', but is it smaller, shorter, more reflexed, and more spidery.

'Sailboat' 7 W-W

'Sailboat' up close

Another yellow/orange jonquil opened, too. 'Pappy George' is the name. It is similar to 'Kedron' but with more saturated colors and with more yellow petals. There was some mottling in the colors in the only one opened so far.

'Pappy George' 7 Y-O

An all-yellow jonquil opened, 'Quail'. I really like this one. Though smaller than some, it has multiple flowers per stem on all stems, and nice ruffling. It has also won the prestigious Wister Award, which means it does exceptionally well in gardens.

'Quail' 7 Y-Y

Next up is another daffodil, not a jonquil, but a Triandrus daffodil (the only one I have in my garden, though 'Silver Chimes' has some Triandrus ancestry). It is 'Thalia', also known as the orchid daffodil. This name is apparent from the blooms. They have a nice fragrance, and come back reliably every year. 'Thalia''s white is a more pure, crystalline white than the white jonquils, which have hints of yellow.

'Thalia' 5 W-W

I got a package yesterday from my friend and fellow gardener, Br. Placidus (see his blog here). He was kind to send more canna tubers and seeds from his garden. I'm looking forward especially to trying the Hyacinth bean. I've never tried it before.

Canna tubers

Cool seed packets

Speaking of seeds, I've collected my first daffodil seeds of the season. These are from the Narcissus jonquilla I posted photos of several weeks back.

N. jonquilla seeds.

Granny's House

Yesterday, I left town to visit Birmingham and make some stops along the way. I got some plants at Petals from the Past, and then stopped nearby at my great grandmother's homeplace, Granny's House. The site hasn't been lived in for nearly two decades. My distant cousins live on adjacent properties and look after it for my grandmother. It seems they had been hunting there.

This place, though it now looks so poor, was the place of so many of my great childhood memories. It's hard to believe that most of the people who once called this place home are now gone from this world. Only my grandmother is left.

The house. My great grandfather assembled it from an older house in the 1930s and added rooms.

The well house. This is where Granny kept most of her potted plants. There's an old well beneath the table. I remember it mostly because my Aunt Dot broke her leg when the swing broke and fell on it.

I walked back in the woods to the far edge of the property, where my grandmother says an aunt and uncle of hers used to live. I love this area because there's a huge swath of daffodils. Sadly, they no longer bloom, but there are thousands of them. I think they're the heirloom variety 'Twin Sisters', based on memories of blooms I saw when I was younger.

Daffodil foliage and Uncle Charlie's old deer blind

More daffodil foliage

I have no idea if they planted these many daffodils or if they spread like this.

'Lady Jane' tulip

The 'Lady Jane' tulip is blooming here. It's a cultivar of Tulipa clusiana. It not only blooms every year, it also increases. I've found plants all over the garden, probably due to me accidentally digging up bulbs and moving them elsewhere. Compared to modern hybrid tulips, this one is very delicate and small.

Tulipa clusiana 'Lady Jane'

'Kedron' & others

A number of new daffodils began opening yesterday. These are opening later than I thought; I hope that they have time to develop fully before real heat sets in. It was nearly 90 degrees earlier this week.

A jonquil I haven't grown until this year is open. 'Kedron' is the name. An American daffodil, it was hybridized in Virginia. I haven't grown a jonquil of its color before. The petals are yellow and the cup is orange. The flowers are pretty small compared to standard daffodils but are above-average for a jonquil. It has a nice fragrance. More flowers should open tomorrow or this weekend, so we'll see how they turn out.

Narcissus 'Kedron' 7 Y-O

Next up is 'Barrett Browning', an award-winning small-cupped daffodil. This is my first year growing it. I haven't grown a small-cupped daffodil before, either, so it will have to be seen how it does in the South. One odd thing I noticed about it is that it sent flower buds above ground before leaves. All other daffodils I've grown send leaves up a few weeks ahead of flower buds. It's visually stunning; larger than a jonquil, and smaller than trumpet or large-cupped daffodils. Has some fragrance, too.

Narcissus 'Barrett Browning' 3 WWY-O

Finally, there's 'Sir Winston Churchill', a double-flowered Tazetta. I read that it's a sport (chance mutation) of 'Geranium'. I first planted it about ten years ago, and it has flowered since. It is now a nice clump. However, oddly, the clump is several feet away from where I planted it, in the middle of the lawn. I don't know how that happened. It's very fragrant.

Narcissus 'Sir Winston Churchill' 4 W-O

Sunny Views

I've never been satisfied with many photos I take in full sunlight, but sometimes these photos are just as good for showing what a thing really looks like. Yesterday, I took some photos of daffodils 'Trevithian' and 'Silver Chimes', both coming into full bloom.

'Trevithian'

'Trevithian'

At the wide spacing I planted these, they don't seem as floriferous as last year, but this spacing is ideal for increasing stock, I think, and about half of the buds haven't opened yet, either. Plus, there's something charming about the kind of "gems among the grass" look here.

'Silver Chimes'

'Silver Chimes'

'Silver Chimes' is as prolific as ever. There are still many unopened buds on it as well. As you can see, I have a bit of a weed problem in this bed, which would be difficult to correct without hurting the daffodils. Since its mostly vetch, which fixes nitrogen, I'll just let it stay.

'Lilac Wonder'

We're having another taste of winter here in Alabama. All of my potted plants are safe in the greenhouse and the others are doing fine outside, even though it dropped to 29 degrees. A tulip that I had planted in the ground for the past ten years is now in a clay pot. Tulipa saxatilis 'Lilac Wonder' is the one. It comes back and flowers every year, but it has never divided or increased, unlike T. clusiana 'Lady Jane', another tulip that reliably perennializes in the Deep South, that now pops up all over the place.

I love the 'Lilac Wonder' tulip, even if it is small. The flowers kind of look like lotuses or waterlilies. The leaves are glossy and waxy. They are only prominent for a few weeks and then go back to obscurity until next spring.

You will often (usually, rather) find this tulip sold as a cultivar of Tulipa bakeri, but this is now considered incorrect, as far as I have read.

Tulipa saxatilis 'Lilac Wonder'

'Lilac Wonder'