REPLY2: Falconet (and siblings)
DaveKarn@aol.com (Sun, 03 Apr 2005 19:02:08 PDT)
In a message dated 4/2/05 11:57:32 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
ConroeJoe@aol.com writes:
I am always hesitant about buying plants that might not do well in winters
with barely a frost. I looked up most of the names on the Web, it is
interesting that so few are mentioned widely--perhaps there will be more information
in specialized publications.
Do you know if any of these come in earlier or later than Falconet?
February
Gold does OK here but seems sulky, it would be nice to have a fragrant and
happy performer early on, as well as something a bit later than Falconet.
Joe ~
Hot and wet (as opposed to hot and dry) Summer climates can be death on
daffodils as the bulbs will frequently succumb to fusarium fungi in the soil during
dormancy. There are some, however, that tend to be less sensitive to this
than many. The best of these are the jonquils (RHS Division 7). They seem to
do well even as far south as central Florida, as do many of the tazettas.
'Falconet' and the others mentioned are a blend of both species.
The three groups of daffodils with notable fragrance are the true jonquils
(RHS Division 7), the tazettas (RHS Division 8) and poeticus (Division 9). Your
best bets would be selections from these three groups. Fortunately, they are
also the groups containing the most fragrant daffodils. The downside (for
you) is that most of these bloom in the latter half of daffodil season. The
exception is the tazetta group which has many that bloom in late Fall through the
Winter months, e.g., Paper Whites, 'Avalanche,' N. italicus, and others. You
just won't find many fragrant sorts that bloom early in the season.
Interestingly, and after having said all that, I spent much of my career
working on projects along the Gulf Coast (oil and petrochemical businesses) and I
would find many daffodils each Spring that were not supposed to grow in this
climate. Yet, there were others, e.g., italicus, that are vigorous and
reliable growers. So, a final bit of advice, is to try some of the other daffodils
from the Dutch suppliers that are usually available in the Fall almost
everywhere or from the popular catalogs. They tend to be inexpensive (a benefit) but
are usually the same ones each year (the downside). The upside is that they
are so inexpensive that one can readily afford to treat them (and other
Spring-flowering bulbs, e.g., tulips) as annuals and enjoy them the following Spring.
If you do happen to find a site suited to them, they can be perennial, even
in the Deep South.
A visit to the web site of the American Daffodil Society
http://daffodilusa.org/
will provide you with many leads, both for information of all sorts, as well
as suppliers.
Best,
Dave Karnstedt