Diane in British Columbia wrote,
>Wonderful! Prior to this, I've only seen pictures of them in pots in
>the U.K.. I'm so pleased to see them growing so well outside. That's
>where my seedlings will go.
It's somewhat wetter in winter where I live in Oregon, but I find
that Narcissus romieuxii is not a good choice for outdoor planting
because the flowers (which are delicate in texture, and upfacing) get
ruined by the rain. I've also grown N. cantabricus outdoors, with the
same results. They look nicer under the cover of the unheated bulb
frames, which are full of flowers right now from narcissus of this
group. They hybridize freely, so I don't send the seeds to exchanges,
but they drop and are distributed around between the pots and many
attractive forms appear.
A couple of years ago Walter Blom of Albany, Oregon, a retired bulb
grower, showed me his selections and hybrids involving N. cantabricus
and N. romieuxii and shared a couple of named ones with me. They're
quite vigorous. He grows them in raised frames ("alpine frames") that
can be covered against excessive wet.
Many other small narcissus are coming into flower now, and a few,
such as N. hedraeanthus, are already done. In the garden only N.
obvallaris (the "English daffodil") is open, and also the
surprisingly adaptable N. jacetanus, a short-growing trumpet species
of which I placed a few in the rock garden several years ago. The
latter is, I understand, very restricted in distribution and habitat,
but it is a vigorous plant here. I grew it from wild-collected seed
many years ago.
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA