Scent
Jane McGary (Thu, 22 May 2008 11:21:09 PDT)

Regarding the offensive or otherwise scent of paperwhite narcissus, note
that different cultivars have different fragrances. The most common one on
the market is, I believe, 'Ziva', and it's one of the stronger-smelling.

There are many wild varieties and cultivars derived from Narcissus tazetta
that have lighter scents. I enjoy the one sometimes known as N. panizzianus
and also find N. pachybolbus inoffensive. Another early-flowering plant
with a pleasant, sweet scent is N. cordubensis, which has small gold
flowers on tallish stems.

In flower now is the pleasantly scented wild form of Narcissus jonquilla,
which I grew from seed collected in the Pyrenees by a contributor to the
NARGS seed exchange some years ago. The flowers wouldn't please daffodil
specialists because they tend to be a little bicolored, but I like them. I
grow them in a large container where I can keep them adequately watered, as
they don't like to dry out completely in summer (or, I assume, be soggy all
winter).

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA