30th April is a special day, it is my wonderful daughter’s birthday. So today’s Vase on Monday is dedicated to my lovely girl. Big blowsy daffodils might ‘come before the swallow dares and take the winds of March with beauty’ but I love the later narcissi which are amongst the daintiest and the prettiest of the whole tribe and many of them are deliciously fragrant.
The poet, John Masefield said:
‘I have seen the Lady April bringing the daffodils,
Bringing the springing grass and the soft warm April rain’.
Unfortunately the Lady April is a capricious lady and today the rain is far from soft and warm, it is cold and cruel, accompanied by a bitter north easterly wind. I hope these daffodils will bring a little sunshine to the day.
The daintiest of all is the fragile looking Narcissus ‘Segovia’. It has pure white petals and a flat lemon cup with frilly edges. One of its parents is the tricky, pure white Narcissus wateri which comes from the High Altlas mountains of Morocco. I can’t grow Narcissus wateri but I can grow this little beauty and I wouldn’t be without it. It is good in a pot too.
Narcissus ‘Segovia’
Narcissus ‘ Segovia’ centre, Narcissus ‘Bell Song’ left.
Just as dainty and with an incredible fragrance we have the jonquil, Narcissus ‘Bell Song’
Narcissus ‘Bell Song’
Narcissus ‘Bell Song’ with yellow ‘N.’Sun Disc’
Narcissus ‘Sun Disc’ above is another jonquil with a delicious scent, it has small flowers and a flat corona like a little face. I think it is ‘Sun Disc’, the bulbs were labelled as ‘Sweetness’ and it is certainly not that. I keep it in a pot by the pond.
Narcissus ‘Sundisc’
The pretty Narcissus ‘Pipit’ is yet another in the jonquilla group. The lemon and cream flowers have a delicious fragrance. And aren’t they cute?
Narcissus ‘Pipit’
Narcissus ‘Katie Heath’ is a tiandrus narcissus. It is larger flowered than the little treasures I have featured so far. If you are interested in daffodils you will know that they are divided into different groups or divisions. Tiandrus is Division Five and all the daffodils in this group are very delicate looking with pendant flowers and reflexed petals and they usually have two or three flowers to a stem. The popular white ‘Thalia’ is in the tiandrus division . I love ‘Katie Heath’ for its pinky- peach coloured. It is in the top right hand corner of the above picture. It is larger than ‘Bell Song’ and the coronna is chunkier with a stronger colour.
Narcissus ‘Katie Heath’
The pure white Narcissus ‘Petrel’ is another in the Tiandrus division. It is multi-headed and beautifully fragrant. You can see it on the lower right hand side of the photo below.
I like to grow Narcissus ‘Petrel ‘ with the showy Epimedium ‘ Amber Queen’ because they are looking good at the same time.
Narcissus ‘Petrel’ with Epimedium ‘Amber Queen’
I am very fond of one I bought as Narcissus ‘Elka’. I bought quite a few bulbs and gave a potful to a friend last year. The worrying thing is hers don’t look anything like mine. I have read that ‘Elka’ is early flowering but in my garden it is one of the latest, so perhaps it is wrongly labelled. Can anyone tell me if they recognise it as ‘Elka?
Narcissus ‘Elka’
I put some frothy Spiraea argutea ‘Bridal Veil’ in with the vase but once inside it drops its petals very quickly .
The little round vase has the tiny trumpets of the hoop petticoat Narcissus bulbodicum with Epimedium versicolor ‘Sulphureum’. This little narcissus will seed around if it is happy and the seedlings are very variable and always a delight.
Narcissus bulbocodium
And to finish here is my daughter’s beloved Hector and a Vase on Monday painted specially for the occasion by my other best girl, my daughter-in-law, the amazingly talented and totally adorable Beatrice.
Thank you to my lovely friend, Cathy at Ramblinginthegarden for hosting this meme and for giving me the chance to send love and best birthday wishes to my Golden Girl.
Chloris
The Blooming Garden 
The little narcissus ‘Pipit’ seems quite unusual to me with its yellow petals outside and white in. Your vase is a beautiful collection of flowers and the painting with the mournful Hector is charming.
Thank you Jane. Pipit is a real charmer. Hector does look a bit soulful doesn’t he? In fact he is a very happy chappy with a great sense of humour.
A lovely bunch of golden flowers for your golden girl! Love the last picture! Pipit really is a pretty one. I don’t know what that mystery one is, but I’d say NOT Elka, as I have Elka in my garden and it has a longer more yellowy trumpet… assuming mine was correctly labelled! LOL!
Thank you Cathy. I have googled Elka and it doesn”t look like mine. This one is very pretty but I wish I had the correct name for it.
What a lovely vase (and painting) for your daughter, and thank you for identifying the flowers. Useful for me as I want to grow more narcissus next year and the miniature ones do best in the wind here.
I think the miniature ones are by far the prettiest. They are wonderful in pots too.
I am thinking of pots next year instead of the tulips. They haven’t done so well this year. The daffs might survive the wind better.
You have such a nice variety of narcissus. Your daughter-in-law is really talented!
Thank you. Yes Beatrice is a fine artist. I love it when she does pictures for my blog.
Oh…I thought you were the artist on your blog.
Goodness, what a lovely and love filled post. Happy Birthday to your daughter. The vase is perfect for your vast Narcissus collection. You might look at Brent and Beckys bulbs website for Elka, they are Narcissus experts here.
Thank you Amy. I think I will try again with Elka next year and in the meantime I am baffled as to what this one could be.
Yes, aren’t we lucky with our wonderful daughters and daughters-in-law. And daffodils! Love the John Masefield quote – from now on, I will always think of April as “Lady April”.
Indeed, our girls enrich our lives.
Yes, April is a lady but rather a moody one. Sonetimes sunny and calm and other times tossing her head petulantly or having a trantrum.
What a thoroughly lovely post, Chloris, full of love and detail and well-chosen words. So interesting to see all your daffodils close up and to hear more about them and about your lovely daughter and daughter-in-law – all worthy of celebration of course! The link to this post wasn’t quite right but I shall amend your comment with the correct one (once you have published your own post, you need to copy its web address from the top of your page)
Thank you Cathy. I thought I had copied and pasted my link properly, in fact it was you who taught me how to do it. I must have gone wrong sonewhere, I’ll try again.
It has happened a few times. but not to worry… 😉 It looks as if you copy the ‘permalink’ which is created underneath your title when you are writing the post, but unless it is a short title it is abbreviated by replacing part of it with dots (have a look the next time you write a post). As I write this I note that you can click on a button that says ‘get shortlink’ which I see now would be the quickiest and easiest way of getting the link – but it is just a series of characters and I personally would rather use the full one (in the address bar at the top of the page once you have posted it) as it gives a hint of what a post might contain. It has still been easy to find your post as the link took us to your site but ‘page not found’ and we could then click on ‘home’ which would take us to your newest post. Does this make any sense? 🙂
What a wonderful range of Narcissi you have! The only one we seem to have in common is ‘Katie Heath’, which I planted in the fall and which finished their first bloom cycle in my garden in March. I’m sorry your day started with cold rain but with all those daffodils I expect your garden is sunny in any weather at the moment. Best wishes to your daughter on her birthday!
P.S. Beatrice’s portrait of Hector is priceless.
Thank you Kris. Beatrice really has caught Hector’s ‘butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth’ expression Oh yes, I remember seeing your Katie Heath.
What a wonderful variety of Narcissus you have Liz. Mine are well and truly over and have been for a few weeks now. Your daughter is lucky to have such a lovely bouquet for her birthday. Wish her a very happy birthday from me!
Thank you Christina. These little narcissi are so pretty and they smell divine. Yes, I can see your garden is in full summer mode now.
Gorgeous, it’s lovely to see these little beauties close up.
I agree, it is good to have them in a vase and admire them close up.
Enjoyed seeing your collection of Narcissus. Narcissus ‘Pipit’ is so unexpected–love it. Happy Birthday to your dear daughter, praise to your daughter-in-law for her work. Happy gardening to you!
Thank you Susie. Yes, Pipit is a sweetie.
That is a mighty fine vase!!! Just perfect for a beautiful daughter, all the very best to her. Love that painting of Hector and the vase, fabulous! You’ll have to post some pics of him, looks like he’s all grown up!xxx
Thank you Dina. Yes, Hector is a perfect gentleman now he has got past his giddy adolescence. Beatrice has captured his expression perfectly.
have you grown Nasturiums?
If you have, could you offer me some advice, regarding their germination? They seem to take a long time to germinate. I placed them on a heat mat, and have placed a tinfoil liner, to give them darkness. I have even soaked some of them. What could I be doing wrong? They seem to rot really easy too.
Nasturtiums are usually easy to germinate, perhaps you had old seed. I just sprinkke them on the ground and they germinate in 10 to 12 days.
Thanks for the reply!
The stuff I was using, must have had a poor germination rate. Just switched to the Dwarf Cherry rose, and they germinated in 5 days! Blooms in just 30-45!! Can’t wait.
I also found, they need darkness to germinate. The light inhibits it.
Your germinate quite fine without burying them an inch deep or so?
Well, I do cover them in soil, but they have always been very obliging. I am glad you have had such great success with your Cherry Rose.
Each of your Daffy-Down-Dillies is a masterpiece and when combined as beautifully as this, they’re a joy to behold. May they bring some sunshine to your day.
Thank you Peter, what a lovely thing to say. I hope you are enjoying lovely sun too. It is gorgeous here at the moment.
I thought that looked like bridal veil spirea. I am not familiar with it. It is uncommon here. I have not seen it in years.
That’s funny, it is common here. It has a nice habit and gleaming white flowers.
So many plants that are common elsewhere are uncommon here, not necessarily because they do not do well here, but because we either do not know that they do well here, or because we grow too many other things. Most people who live here are from somewhere else. When the arrive, they immediately want to grow things that they could not grow where they came from, especially if it is evergreen through winter. Spirea, forsythia, lilac, mock orange, redbud, hazel, fothergilla and pussywillow are all uncommon.
Oh what a fabulous birthday tribute to your daughter Chloris – undeniably pretty and scented too s no doubt your girl is too. Shame about the weather – an ‘April is the cruellest month” sort of day but hopefully there is some warmth on the horizon. I grow ‘Elka’ – her inners (which morph from yellow to ivory) are not fluted and she looks much smaller than your daffy. I’m most taken with your epimedium and ‘Petrel’ combination. A note to self has been made 🙂
Thank you Anna. Yes, my daughter is lovely. Thanks for for the tip about Elka, I will try again next year to get the right one. But my imposter is pretty too. And now we have glorious weather, I hope you are enjoying it too.
What a marvelous selection of Daffodils. I am smitten with ‘Pipit’.
Thank you Jason. Yes, Pipit is a treasure and the flowers are long lasting.
Pipit is certainly a cutie! I hope I can remember to come back here when I am ordering bulbs for fall.
Everyone seems to admire Pipit, it certainly is unusual.
What an amazing selection of beautiful daffodils you have! I’m so glad you shared them with us, as well as the painting. Hope May rains will be less cruel for you in your gardens. Best, -Beth
Thank you Beth. All those rains have done a lot of good, the garden is really lush and the apple blossom is amazing. And now we have glorious sun.
An ode to spring bulbs and a tribute to your daughter all in one post. Beautiful, Chloris! And the vase is perfect for the arrangement.
We now have daffodils and hyacinths a-bloom, the scilla is everywhere, and the trillium, dotted around the garden, has started to bloom that sweet, 3-petal white from whence comes its name.
Thank you Cynthia. I am glad to hear that your garden has come alive and is in full spring mode, what a joy.