As I mentioned with my tulips, I have been a bit lazy in the past when it comes to bulb planting and always regretful. Part of my excuse is the more compressed growing season in Brooklyn, NY, where I gardened for ten years.
As both a professional and a personal gardener, I found myself weary at the end of a long stretch of non-stop plant nurturing. Since fall and early winter is the time to plant bulbs, my laziness often prevented me from the delayed gratification of a pretty spring display.
I did have these gorgeous Narcissus poeticus in Brooklyn and I must grow them again.
In spring of 2008, having missed the bulb planting window, I purchased some sweet little 'Tete a tete' narcissus already blooming in a plastic container at the farmers market. Once plunked into the ground they bloomed each spring.
In Dallas, I enjoy the varied ebb and flow of the long growing season. Though the leaves drop from the trees in winter, the ground doesn't freeze so we don't have to stop gardening. The scorching summer, however, forces us to hibernate, to a certain degree, in July and August.
When the heat finally lets up in late September, I am refreshed and eager to get out there again. Hence, my lovely daffodils this year! Unlike my tulips which were planted at the same time, these beauties will naturalize and expand with each year.
As part of another project which I will describe later, I'll be moving some narcissus and other bulbs up from the shadier backyard to get more sun and add to my springtime display.
Love this companion plant, Dusty Miller (Centaurea cineraria) which was alowed to grow from a scrawny $1.49, four-inch transplant into this bursting evergreen silver perennial!
I repeat: patience is a virtue.
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