Mysterious charming delusive narcissus flower
NARCISSUS.
Narcissus flower belongs to permanent bulbous grasses of amaryllis family. Its homeland is the South Europe as well as Mediterranean countries (Spain and Portugal in particular). There are several dozens of species (according to one data – 30, others give the figure 60). Narcissus, like crocus, tulip, hyacinth refers to early blossoming flowers.
You can find a detailed botanic description of narcissus in the books about bulbous plants. Here a short characteristic of the plant is given. Narcissus leaves are root, linear, dark-green, depending on the variety they can be of different length and width. By its building the flower consists of pipe perianth with six lobes (double kinds have many lobes), near the perianth there is a crown inside which you can see six stamens. The narcissus bulbs are long and of pear-shaped form, covered with thick brown pellicle. The feature of the bulbs is that there are two reproduction buds. Roots growing from the end of the bulb most intensively develop in autumn and die out every year. The flowers can be double or plain, they sit on the leafless stems covered with a film. Narcissus starts blossoming in the first half of May and finishes in June. Due to the absence of leaves on the stems cutting a bouquet is harmless for narcissus. Bulbs do not suffer during cutting.
You surely know how narcissus looks on the example of Narcissus Poeticus flower, which most often is planted in the gardens.
Narcissus flowers are various due to various forms, size and colour of a crown (paperwhite narcissus, yellow, orange narcissus or two-colour one). Selectionists work eagerly with narcissus flower. Thanks to their efforts there are different species: one-colour, two-colour, very beautiful flowers with pink crown (also called the pink narcissus), but white and yellow ones stay the favourites. Pictures of narcissus are often put on congratulatory cards especially for spring holidays like the Easter, Women’s Day, The 1st of May and Victory Day.
Narcissus flower has long been known in many countries. In Greece narcissus flower is the symbol of self-admiration and an early death (the legend of a young Narcissus who died of love to his own reflection), in China narcissus is a symbol of success and wealth in a New Year, in Japan it is a symbol of purity. Narcissus is especially loved on the British Isles where the glades of wild narcissuses blossom in early spring. Citizens of Great Britain are famous for their love to flowers and each part of this country has its symbol-flower: in England it is a rose, in Ireland it is a trefoil, in Scotland – thistle, and in Wales it is a narcissus flower (along with leek).
Narcissus is also loved by filmmakers. In 1947 the film “Black Narcissus” was made in the USA.
One of the few wild narcissus species are narrow-leaved narcissus flowers growing in the Carpathians. Every year in the first half of May when the narcissus blossom thousands of tourists come to Ukraine (Khust, Transcarpathian region) to admire the valley of narcissus flowers – the biggest field of wild narcissuses in Europe. There are also such fields but smaller in size in the Alps, Romania mountains, in the Balkan Mountains and in Great Britain.
NARCISSUSES SPECIES.
In the open ground and when growing narcissus at home usually the species are used that were obtained by hybridization of 
several kinds of wild narcissuses. Today all kinds of narcissuses are divided approximately into twelve groups. The most well-known species of narcissus are:
- Trumpet daffodils. The flowers are single and big. The crown is pipe looking like a bluebell, equal or longer than the perianth lobes. The flowers are one-colour paperwhite or yellow, can be two-colour. The most famous kinds of this group are Mount Hood – paperwhite narcissus, early; Birsheba – white with a very long pipe; Gold Medal – yellow, low; King Alfred – deep yellow, a pipe with a beautiful crimped edge.
- Large-cupped Daffodils. The flowers are big, paper white, cream-coloured, orange; the crown is pear-shaped or pipe-shaped, a bit shorter than a perianth. The sorts are – dark-yellow with an orange crown, La Argentina – white with a yellow crown.
- Small-cupped Daffodils. The crown is far shorter than the perianth lobes. The sorts are: Arguros – a snow-white perianth with a slightly greenish middle; Cansas – white with a cream-coloured crown, Verge – white with a dark-red crown.
- Double Daffodils. The perianth consists of many lobes. The sorts are: Golden Ducat – very double, bright yellow; Inglescomb, Texas – narcissus daffodil; Snowball – white.
- Narcissus poeticus (Poeticus Daffodils). They have single white flowers with a small flat brightly-coloured cup. The sorts of Narcissus Poeticus are: Aktea – an orange cup inside a big paperwhite narcissus; Queen – a big paper white narcissus with a bright-red crown; Milan – a tall white narcissus with dark-green eye.
These are only the main species of narcissus flower. Besides, there are much more of them, such as:
- narcissus tazetta
- narcissus jonquilla
- narcissus tete a tete
- narcissus bulbocodium
- narcissus cyclamineus
- narcissus triandrus
- narcissus triandrus
- narcissus canaliculatus
and many more.
To grow narcissus in a pot at home the small-flower narcissus Tazetta is the most appropriate. They give bouquets of white, yellow or two-colour flowers.
According to color classification, there are many varieties of narcissus flowers as well. The most well-known are narcissus papyraceus, also referred to as paperwhite narcissus, or simply white narcissus as well. A huge variety of colors can also bring us yellow, orange, pink narcissus plant. You can choose almost any color.
Also Narcissus Poeticus (or Poet’s Narcissus, Poets Daffodil) is popular due to its medium size and intriguing name. Narcissus Poeticus was one of the first narcissus species to be cultivated, therefore its history is longer than other kinds of narcissus plant. You can often meet paper white Narcissus Poeticus in a garden and recognize its shape and color. As for narcissus paperwhite color is the most common color. We also cannot forget to mention Narcissus Minnow, which is also popular among the florists.
You can buy narcissus bulbs at virtually every florist shop, there are also many proposals in the Internet.
PLANTING NARCISSUS BULBS.
Narcissuses are not choosy in place. They prefer open sunny place but still grow well in the half-shadow. Flower narcissus can be planted near trees and bushes but you should protect them from strong winds.
Narcissus flower grows well in any cultivated soil. You should add sand or peat into heavy clay soils and turf earth and humus into the light ones. Acidic soils should be limed. As most of plants having bulbs narcissus flower cannot not stand too much water in the soil, it should be taken into account when choosing the place for growing narcissus.
Paperwhite narcissus bulbs are usually planted in the middle of September or the beginning of October so that the bulb could root before the frost come. The bulbs need 20 days to root. If you plant the narcissus in spring the plant grows poorly and there are usually no flowers during this season.
The standard depth of planting a narcissus bulb is 2-3 diameters of the bulbs (10-15 cm). The depth must be less on the heavy soils and more on the light ones. The distance between the plants should be near 10 cm. The distance between the rows is 20-25 cm.
Narcissus bulbs must be planted before the cold weather comes so that the narcissus bulb could grow roots and sit firmly. They do it for about a month. If the frosts come unexpectedly early and the winter is going to be cold you should cover the plants with a layer of leaves not less than 10 cm.
You can easily find paper white narcissus bulbs in florist shops, as this specie is very popular.
NARCISSUS FLOWER CARE.
Care should be started in early spring when you are to look over the plants after winter and remove weak and ailing ones. During their growth and blossoming the earth under narcissuses must be regularly loosened, weeded out, watered.
The soil for planting should be prepared in advance and the main fertilizer must be put in at the same time. The best fertilizer for narcissus is rotten humus or compost earth (8-10 kg for 1 square meter). It is good to put a handful of bone flour under each bulb, it will provide phosphorus for intensive developing and nourishing the roots. At the second loosening you should add phosphorus fertilizer in the form of bone flour or superphosphates (60 kg for 1 square meter).
When growing narcissus flower you must take into account the nutrition requirements of these plants. When cared of properly narcissuses must be nourished several times during the season. In order that fertilizers assimilated well the first nourishing is best done when there is still snow on the ground. Then the full fertilizer is put into ground with increased content of nitrogen and equal parts of phosphorus and potassium (NPK), the proportions should be 2:1:1. The amount of fertilizer for 1 square meter is 100 g. Before the narcissus flower starts blossoming the second nourishing must be carried out in the same amount but with more phosphorus, the proportions (NPK) are 1:2:1. The third nourishing is made during the period of blossoming, its amount is less (30 g for 1 square meter), the ratio of phosphorus to potassium (PK) is 1:1.
A bunch of narcissuses looks great, so the flowers are often grown for sale by the spring holidays. The experience of narcissus growing for cutting shows that cutting does not affect the bulb development, and if we want to have a high-quality planting material for growth cutting flowers is even helpful. It is especially important not to miss ripening of seed bolls.
Narcissus bulbs grow slowly. Only the third year brings full development, at this time the flowers blossom most intensively, that’s why narcissuses are not recommended to be dug out in less than three years after planting. Narcissuses grow on one place during 3-5 years and there is no need in frequent transplantation.
When necessary you can dig out the bulbs when the leaves are fully yellow and dry. The dug out bulbs must be put in one row for drying in the shadow or in the room with the temperature not lower than +20 degrees Centigrade. Before you put bulbs for storing they must be cleaned, looked over and the ailing one must be removed. If you find daughter bulbs you shouldn’t tear them from maternal bulbs. This can cause diseases. Daughters will split themselves when the time comes. The bulbs should be stored at the temperature of 16-18 degrees Centigrade.
NARCISSUS. FORCING TREATMENT.
Forcing treatment is a method of narcissus flower growing at which the conditions are created for them to blossom at the unusual period of time. Narcissuses refer to the flowers that can be treated both in a greenhouse conditions (where the best conditions can be created) and on the open ground or in the pot at home. Early blossoming species are the most appropriate for forcing treatment.
Bulbs intended for forcing treatment must have some periods of storage. At first the bulbs are dried during two weeks after digging out at high temperatures (up to +30 degrees Centigrade), then the temperature is lowered to +17 degrees and the bulbs are kept at this temperature for three weeks. After that the bulbs must be cooled to +9 degrees Centigrade. Air humidity in the premises should be high (80-85%). The bulbs are kept in these conditions up to the moment of planting.
Garden earth mixed with sand or sawdust will suit well as a soil for forcing treatment.
A month before the desired term of having flowers the bulbs are planted in the boxes or in the soil of the greenhouse. You can plant bulbs very closely but they should not touch each other and the walls of the box or a pot. The upper part of the bulb must stay on the surface. The seedlings are kept at +9 degrees Centigrade and at air humidity close to 100% for about a week, after that the temperature is raised to +17 degrees. If the temperature is higher it will cause elongation of the plants and blossoming will be too fast. If you lower the temperature from the beginning of blossoming you can increase the period of blossoming.
There is one other method of forcing treatment, when the bulbs are kept at temperature +17 degrees all the time up to the planting. Then they are planted in the boxes or pots with sand. They are put into dark premises with temperature +5-9 degrees Centigrade and humidity close to 100%. For narcissus plant this period lasts 2-3 months and usually by this time the seedlings reach the height of 3-5 cm, after which the plants are put into a light premises with +15+17 degrees air temperature and humidity about 50%. In two weeks narcissuses will blossom. When blossoming starts the temperature in the premises with narcissuses must be lowered to +10 degrees, it will prolong blossoming.
NARCISSUSES IN A POT.
You can easily have a house narcissus in a pot. Growing narcissus at home has a number of peculiarities. For forcing treatment all species are suitable but depending on the time period when the flowers are necessary you can take either early blossoming or late blossoming plants.
Only big (weighing not less than 60 g), healthy adult bulbs can be taken for forcing treatment. The vessel for home narcissus must be not less than 10 cm high. The pot is filled with earth and the bulbs are planted in the way that one-third of each bulb is on the surface. The earth is pressed and watered. Then the phase of rest comes. During this time the seedlings must be kept in full darkness at temperature +5-7 degrees. Such conditions can be created if you dig the pots into the garden earth under the layer of peat up to 10 cm, or put them into a cold cellar, garage on the lower shelf of your home fridge having wrapped it in a black package. This stage is finished when the first sprout appears. Now the plants must be moved to the premise with temperature about +10 degrees on the place which is well-lighted but without direct sunrays. When the buds appear the temperature should be raised to +18-20 degrees. The further care of narcissus in home conditions is limited by timely watering and putting supports when the flower grows tall.
When the narcissus fades don’t throw it away. You should just cut the faded narcissus flowers, continue watering, put the fertilizer and wait for the leaves to become dry. After that the narcissus bulbs are dug out, dried and put for storing. These bulbs are not appropriate for forcing treatment for the next year, but, when planted in the garden in autumn, they will root, sit firm, become strong and blossom.
NARCISSUS FLOWER. DISEASES. PESTS.
Most often the diseases of narcissus flowers are brought through poor-quality planting material. Be careful when buying and sorting the bulbs at transplantation.
Narcissus flower can be affected by fungi and viruses. Fungi are such diseases as gray rot, spotting, sclerotium rot, vine wilt. Excessive humidity (especially when the air temperatures are too low or too high), lack of light, excessive nitrogen nourishing promote development of these diseases. As a preventive measures against fungi diseases bulbs must be treated by fungicides before storing and temperature conditions must not be broken. Immediately before planting narcissus bulbs must be treated by putting them for 30 minutes in a 0,1-0,2% solution of fundazol or some other system preparation.
Of virus diseases narcissus flower can have white and yellow streak, stem nematode. The most efficient method to fight virus diseases is timely detection, removal and extermination of ailing plants. Careful rejection of ailing bulbs, change of planting with marigold growing, steaming bulbs three weeks after digging out in hot water (45 degrees) for 2-4 hours as well as treating soil with carbathion will help.
