REPLY2: Falconet (and siblings)

DaveKarn@aol.com 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


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