Daffodils, jonquils, paperwhites -- they're all Narcissus
Dec. 17—Here we go again, the befuddling name-this-daffodil challenge.
After writing about gardening for over four decades, responding to callers on my MPB/NPR radio broadcast, and following the Mississippi Gardening FB page, I can close my eyes and tell you what folks will wonder about, any week of the year. Really. I never mind though, because there are always new plants or techniques, more insights, different ways of phrasing things.
What has caught my attention this week, along with a deluge of concerns involving spring shrubs flowering too early, holes in collard leaves, squirrels on bird feeders, potted plants with drooping, humidity-starved leaves, and beautiful camellia and Christmas/Thanksgiving blooms, is about identifying early winter flowers variously called daffodils/buttercups/jonquils/paperwhites.
Which always perks me up. My earliest deliberate horticultural chore was helping my great-grandmother sort her 300-plus different kinds of Narcissus. It was she who explained that what most folks lump together as daffodils are several groups with distinctly different flowers.
Trying to not be pedantic here, but I'm fascinated by how folk flower names vary widely by region and language; Germans call our daffodils osterglocke and Dutch call them all narcis, which is why horticulturists worldwide stick mainly with universal Latin.
And the fact is, all daffodils are types of Narcissus, which is their Latin name regardless of what language you speak. Google the interesting Greek myth about where the name Narcissus comes from. But the name daffodil is even more intriguing; it seems that one of the ancient flowers called asphodel got muddled in the 1600s into "de" (the) affodele which became daffadilly and now just daffodil.
Still with me? Not many people care what we call these antique beauties, all carefully selected for their dependable cold-weather beauty, willowy grace, vigor, and sometimes fragrance — and being one of the few truly deer-proof flowers. But some of us like to split hairs.
Of the dozen or so different groups of Narcissus, the two earliest bloomers, which by the way do not survive winter farther north, are truly unique. Tazettas, called bunch flowered daffodils and include all the paperwhites, have multiple flowers; jonquillas have tiny yellow flowers and, importantly, unlike all other, have distinctly thin, reedy, "quill" shaped leaves, hence jon-quill. Both are intensely fragrant (some paperwhites smell like cat urine), both often have time to set seed before time to mow the lawn.
If you know where some paperwhites are growing, and have permission to dig (leave a few, please!), and want them to flower the next year, pick a few flowers, but wait to dig bulbs after the foliage starts to yellow. Just trust me on this. If you want to buy some, start with Avalanche, Grand Primo, Erlicheer (double flowers), Grand Soleil d'Or, italicus or Minor monarque, and Early Pearl; all been flowering here for generations, multiplying even in cemeteries with no care, and all gone in time to start mowing the lawn.
Not all daffodils repeat flower in our climate. Of the two or three dozen dependable cultivars crucial to my winter flower delights, I'd start new gardeners with early-flowering Campernelle, large cup Carlton, Ice Follies, Tete a Tete, and the latest-to-flower Twin Sisters.
There are lots of other great garden bulbs for Southern gardens; those that really shine for me with zero care include snowflakes with their green-dotted white bells, huge crinums, elephant ears, star flower (Ipheion), amaryllis, liatris, lycoris (both red "spider lilies" and pink "naked ladies"), winter-foliage painted arum...Want more? Email for my free brochure.
Meanwhile stump your neighbors with the difference between regular daffodils and true jonquils, by just their leaves.
FELDER RUSHING is a Mississippi author, columnist, and host of the "Gestalt Gardener" on MPB Think Radio. Email gardening questions to rushingfelder@yahoo.com.
