Jim Waddick wrote,
I have grown the "hardy Tazetta' Narcissus 'Minnow' for a
>number of years and find it not very satisfactory. The bulb seems
>hardy enough, but foliage is always badly hurt by winter freezes and
>flowers are pitiful. Basically an ugly mess at spring bloom time.
>... This is a pretty common cv. When does in bloom in a more
>moderate climate? And why now?
I had it for a number of years, and I suppose it was just bulb fly
that did it in. It flowered here in early spring.
I don't know why it would flower now for Jim in Missouri, but I do
recall seeing bicolored Narcissus tazetta forms in flower in fall in
the eastern Mediterranean. I don't know whether they were flowering
"out of season" or in their regular time.
I can grow several species of the Tazetta group outdoors here in
northwestern Oregon, where it isn't as cold as Jim's home but suffers
from wet freezing intermittently all winter. I'd attribute the
foliage damage to being frozen while wet; I have many "tender"
narcissi in the bulb frames that don't suffer in this way, because
the frames keep the rain off them.
Among the ones I have in the frame are several wild forms of N.
tazetta that resemble 'Minnow'. All have been spring-blooming here.
I have no Narcissus in flower now (N. humilis and N. miniatus/N.
serotinus are finished, and I've never been able to acquire N.
viridiflorus), but several forms of N. cantabricus have buds up.
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA