Wednesday, April 23, 2008

"N" is for Narcissus: Don't tell the Deer!

There’s little as disillusioning as waking up on a spring morning to find that your tulips have been “mown” overnight by the local deer, or that the rosebuds, which were just about open, had been pinched by the same perps. For that reason, and because they are poisonous, narcissi, the botanical name for the more commonly called daffodil, are generously planted in our gardens.

This photo includes one of every variety in my yard. In the 20 years we have lived here, I would say I’ve easily planted more than 1,000 bulbs, which have not necessarily multiplied as promised. A posting at the American Daffodil Society provides 13 possible things I might have done wrong; for starters, I think I’ll try feeding them.

There are also 13 different descriptive divisions of daffodils; miniatures share these same descriptive divisions but simply have smaller blooms. Pictured are examples of nine of these divisions: trumpet, large cupped, small cupped, double, cyclamineus (it looks like it’s facing a cyclone), jonquilla and poeticus (both of which are usually fragrant), split cupped, and wild. Missing are triandrus; tazetta (paperwhites), bulbocodium, and miscellaneous.

I’m interested in learning what others have to say about narcissus. Do you call them daffodils? Or Narcissus? And how to you pluralize the word?

Oh, and about the deer. Only the bulb and leaves are poisonous. But, please, let it be our secret!

Visit Mrs. Nesbitt's blog to see the work of other Alphabet Wednesday Participants.

16 comments:

Neva said...

I love your daffodils(that is what I call them!!)The deer love them so much where I live, I gave up on planting them.....

Neva said...

oops, forgot to leave this!
My ABC's are up~
Neva ABC 1
Neva abc2

Anonymous said...

Lovely N!

FO - 2 said...

Beautiful bouquet! :)))

Ida

mrsnesbitt said...

If you would like to be added to the blogroll please could you put a link in your post to my blog, as is explained in the rules.
Great to have you aboard.

Anonymous said...

Oh gosh, this is a stunning photograph.

Dragonstar said...

Beautiful photo. And I'm so envious of the numbers and types of your daffodils/narcissus. Pink daffodils? Wow!

Jilly said...

What a mixed bunch. Just lovely. I call them daffodils but narcissi (!) is probably more correct. How about jonquils - or is that something different?

Andrea said...

What a beautiful arrangement of flowers.

Paulie said...

Your yard must be lovely looking for all to view since you have all those flowers blooming at once! WOW!!!!

Great to use the botanical name for the daffodils. Good thinking.

Rune Eide said...

Thank you for teaching me about these beautiful flowers! With a beautiful picture at the same timer.

smilnsigh said...

Lovely photo! Didn't know they are poisonous. But I like your reason for having lots and lots of them!!!

Guess I call them daffodils. I think of narcissi, as something else. But I'm not up on flowers.

Mari-Nanci
Photos-City-Mine
Smilnsigh

Pernille said...

Beautiful flowers and a very good text. Stunning photo! Wow!

RaleighKat said...

Thank you, everyone for visiting and for your kind comments:

Neva: The deer really eat them?

Jilly: Jonquils are one of the groups of the larger species.

Old Man Lincoln: Thank you, from you quite a compliment. I see, now, though, how I could have made it better.

Dragonstar:Yes, Pink. I planted them a long time ago because it was the favorite color of my friend's child.

Again: Thank you for visiting, for your comments and your kind thoughts. I hope to catch up with each of your blogs shortly.

Unknown said...

Very nice bouquet!

RaleighKat said...

Thank you for visiting, John. In which city may I find you?