Narcissus calcicola

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Sun, 30 Mar 2003 11:44:13 PST
Arnoldwrote:
>
>Everyone once and a while a milestone is reached in the life of a 
>gardener.    I purchased seed of this Narcissus from Chiltern's seeds in 
>1998 and it flowered today for the first time.  I was grown completely 
>under HID lights.  Note that its flowering time is identical to when 
>mine has flowered although I have not adjusted the light level or length 
>of day  to coincide with its normal out door cycle.
>
>The bulb is native to Central Portugal and as the name implies it grows 
>in calcareous soil, due to the presence of limestone but Henning 
>Christiansen has shown  the pockets of soil it grows in have been found 
>to be very acid around  pH 5.9
>

I can't really tell from the photo, but it looks as if there may be more
buds on the stem. I have read that N. calcicola is distinguished from the
very similar N. rupicola by having more than one flower per stem, while N.
rupicola has solitary flowers.

I have grown N. calcicola for many years, originally from seed purchased
from Monocot Nursery. It flowers the same time as N. rupicola (now). Last
fall I put some bulbs in the rock garden and they too are blooming well,
but only time and a normally cold winter will tell whether they are a good
outdoor plant. 

I grow it in a moderately acidic medium, the same as almost all my other
bulbs.

The stems can have as many as 5 flowers, but 3 or 4 is the usual number.
The form I have (several clones, since it is a seedling population)
increases well. The bulbs are larger than those of N. rupicola.

Jane McGary
Northwest Oregon


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