The Tail-End of the Daffodil Parade

The warm weather that we have experienced the last three days has had the unfortunate consequence of speeding up the demise of the daffodils. We are now in the "last Hurrah" of our late blooming varieties.

These two beautiful clumps are "Passionale". They have absolutely thrived in their location underneath an oak tree. The soft salmon trumpets are framed by pure white petals. 

This is one of my favorites, called "Holland Sensation". It is suppose to be a very good naturalizer, but hasn't done well for us. Maybe I just have it in the wrong place.

Here is a crazy bloom of "Golden Ducat". This yellow, petal explosion doesn't have the normal trumpet surrounded by petals form. It is quite striking. The downside of this variety is the stems can not support the weight of all of those petals. As soon as we experience our first rain after it opens every stem breaks and falls over.

Here is a mystery bloom. Years ago we ordered a dozen or more of "Lemon Beauty" and planted them. When they came up the first year we had around eight "Lemon Beauty" and the rest were this pretty white daffodil with the frilly lemon trumpet.

This year my sister planted two clumps of "Thalia" in the front flowerbed. The have done really well and I think their pure white color is a nice backdrop and contrast to all of the other bold colors blooming right now.

One more mystery daffodil. The stake by the plants has faded and all I can read is 2005 - the year we planted them!

You might remember that last Fall we bought some specialty Narcissus at a Hardy Plant meeting. We didn't get around to planting the bulbs until January 8th of this year. But I am please to report that they survived our neglect just fine and the first two have bloomed. Pictured above is "Kokopelli". Each long stem has 3 delicate blooms. I really like this new-to-me variety. It will be interesting to see when it opens next year, after being in the ground for a full year. I am guessing that it will open a bit earlier.

The second narcissus to open is my one bulb of "Sabrosa". This petite variety is no more than five inches tall. The picture isn't the best because recent rains have splattered dirt up onto the petals. It is suppose to be fragrant but I haven't had the chance to knell down and take a smell. Scented or not, it is another keeper.