Large-Cupped Daffodil Group

Large-Cupped Daffodil

Narcissus

(nar-SIS-us)

These Daffodils seem happy and proud to be yellow and I dug up this picture just to remember why we have been digging all the holes the last few days. We have been mostly been planting hyacinths and crocus but a few bags of daffs have slipped in. There are also a lot of white lily bulbs. The garden’s owner really loves them for the fragrance. I love them too but they require a deeper hole than the other bulbs and it is stony ground.

Is anyone looking forward to the weekend? There is a big backlog of songs I have to learn. Not only do I have to learn the chords but also the arrangements. This band is heavily into arrangements but lately we have been doing some jamming too. That is always fun and exciting and we seem to be getting better at it. It is almost time to start heading out for some fall foliage shots. I have staked out a few vistas for that but the trees haven’t come into full color yet.

Backlit Spring Daffodils

Backlit Spring Daffodils

Narcissus

(nar-SIS-us)

  

From a little group of photos that I was experimenting how to take pics of backlit flowers. This was shot with only natural lighting and I had to get out there early to capture them. The date says they were photographed on April 13^th so we still have a little time to go.

I hope to be attending the Orchid Show at the NYBG tomorrow. That should prove fun and with the plant collections in the garden there should be something blooming outside too.

"But each spring...a gardening instinct, sure as the sap rising in the trees, stirs within us. We look about and decide to tame another little bit of ground."

Lewis Gantt

Triandrus Narcissus

Triandrus Narcissus
Narcissus 'Thalia'
(nar-SIS-us)
Synonyms: Angel's Tears

The Estate has a large Daffodil collection. It is planted in kind of loose groups not big masses. Of all the varieties this one is one of my favorites. The color is really a pure white and the flowers seem to bloom in groups. A very showy cultivar that I wished I had at least tried a shot in monochrome. There were a lot of flowers out in the garden but not too much time to concentrate on trying to get good pictures of them.


Double Flowered PJM Rhododendron Hybrid
Rhododendron ‘Weston’s Pink Diamond’

This plant has been discussed on this blog before. It seemed that this year it is more loaded with flowers than ever before. It is really just an explosion of pink. I shot this with a shallow depth of field to blur the background and it worked.

Tomorrow a little bit about our foray into the NYC gardening market.

Large-Cupped Daffodil

Large-Cupped Daffodil
Narcissus
(nar-SIS-us)

Since over the years I have 100's or even 1000’s of Daffodil shots I was trying to do something creative here. The trumpet picture of this yellow and orange daff is what I ended up with. The flower had been beaten over by the rain and was hanging completely upside down. In hindsight I probably would have included a little more of the subject in a more centered composition. It was really windy when this picture was taken and it was quickly snapped between the monster gusts.

Here is a picture of some Hyacinth bulbs we saw blooming in a container outside of Grand Central Terminal. I liked them because they combined two of my favorite flower colors purple and blue.

Spring Daffodil

Spring Daffodil
Narcissus
(nar-SIS-us)

Pansy Close up

Pansy
Viola x wittrockiana
(vy-OH-la) (wit-rok-ee-AH-na)

It wouldn’t be spring if there weren’t a couple of Pansy macro photos posted here. This was taken with my Nikon Coolpix P6000 and the minimum focusing distance on this camera continues to astound me. This photo was taken about 1.5 to 2 inches away from the flower and it probably could have been closer. The Pansies have been doing well this spring and this light purple one was bought to be combined with a really deep purple Pansy. We added a few white Ranunculus (what is the plural of Ranunculus?) just to give the planting a little extra boost.

Some more information on the origin of Pansies can be found here. It would seem every flower has a story behind it. I know that it is fall type of plant in a lot of areas but to me the Pansy is always a true harbinger of spring and I always look forward to seeing their happy faces.

This was an interesting little Daffodil that was booming on Friday. It has several flowers per stalk and is highly fragrant.


See more spring flowers from all over the world at Today’s Flowers .

Narcissus 'Gigantic Star'

Large-Cupped Daffodil
Narcissus 'Gigantic Star'
(nar-SIS-us)
Click Here for a Larger Version

This Daffodil flower dwarfs most of the other ones at work. This bulb emerges from the soil with regular looking grass but when the flowers open you can see they are different size wise. I read somewhere that this is a good selection for warmer climate gardeners as it can live in USDA Zone 8 and has some people pushing it into Zone 9. It is also very hardy being able to live in Zone 3. If you are looking for a bread and butter type of big yellow daffodil I would recommend ‘Gigantic Star’. My experiences withthem have been pleasant.

Cyclamen Daffodil - Jack Snipe

Cyclamen Daffodil
Narcissus 'Jack Snipe'
(nar-SIS-us)

This is a dwarf Daffodil that only reaches 10 inches tall. It is an early bloomer that naturalizes well. I am posting this Daff picture to help me remember to throw the 450 Daffodils we still have to plant in the truck this morning. They were purchased at 50% off the wholesale price so it was good deal. They just have to get in the ground. After all these are planted that will be about 1,750 Daffodils we planted this season.

Dwarf Daffodils are a personal favorite. It doesn’t necessarily mean they are small as some of the cultivars have fairly large flowers ( but nothing like a King Alfred type). They tend to be less messy especially in beds and borders than there larger cousins. ‘Jack Snipe’ is nice with its swept back white petals and yellow trumpet.

Thanks to all the visitors from Today’s Flowers yesterday. I certainly saw some great flower pictures on the links I had time to click.

Pheasant’s Eye Narcissus

Pheasant’s Eye Narcissus

I am posting this as a sign of hope for this spring. It was taken April 24th, 2004 with my 4MP Nikon 4300. This is one of my favorite Daffodils and in the scope of the Estate’s Daffodil collection blooms fairly late. I am going to try and shoot a few more daffodil pictures this spring as I noticed I don't have that many in the library. Each spring there are about 10,000 Daffs at work.

We got another dusting of snow last night, which was something I could have done without. There is 2 to 4 inches predicted for Friday night now. There is a glimmer of hope for next week with some milder temperatures.

Someone asked about Molly in the comments section yesterday. She has had a little setback as a large section of skin lost blood flow during the operation and has turned a disgusting shade of purple. It is oozing a little fluid also. I am taking her back to the vet to get her stitches out and have the doctor look at the skin patch. It is confirmed that she has cancer and a very bad type. We took her to a specialist this week but there is nothing they can do until her side heals. There are several treatments available but we won’t which is best until her side gets better.

Hoop Petticoat Daffodil

Hoop Petticoat Daffodil
Narcissus cantabricus var. foliosus
(nar-SIS-us)
Amaryllidaceae (am-uh-ril-id-AY-see-ay)

These were blooming in the Wave Hill Alpine House. Like the Conservatory at Wave Hill it is small by public garden standards but it is always packed with interesting plants. These little Narcissus were a bit of tease (since spring is still so far away), but were a welcome sight. They were only about 3 inches tall but the stand of flowers looked very natural in their grouping. I featured another Hoop Petticoat flower from Wave Hill here:
Hoop Petticoat Narcissus
and if your interested the divisions of the different Daffodil types are on this post
The 13 Divisions of Daffodils
That last link also explains the difference between a Daffodil and a Narcissus.


This flower falls into Division 10, the Bulbocodium Hybrids. The pictures are shot at a little bit of a weird angle because I didn’t want to included the clay pot they were in or the others around it.


When I went around the side of the Alpine House I got a little bit of a start when I realized there was a cat hiding out in the Euonymus. At first he played coy but later came out for a better shot. He almost came down to let me pet him but then took off into the plantings. I miss having a cat.