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