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Daffodils: A Gathering (2 of 4)

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From “When Daffodils Begin to Peer” in The Garden’s Story (1889) by George H. Ellwanger:

“Hybrids in the genus Narcissus are very readily made, and undoubtedly any species of the genus, under favorable conditions, will form a hybrid with any other species of it; and several of these kinds which are considered by botanists as species, seem to be hybrids; that is, they can be imitated by crossing two other species of the genus….

“The best-known instance of this is the so-called species Narcissus incomparabilis. A cross between N. pseudo-narcissus and N. poeticus produces in some instances a daffodil which can not be distinguished from this; but the same cross may also produce results varying in the degree of each parent they contain, varying in the color, size of trumpet, and other particulars. These varieties are found wild on European mountains at elevations where N. poeticus and N. pseudo-narcissus flower simultaneously with the melting of the snow….”

From “The Medium-Crown Hybrids: Narcissus incomparabilis” in Daffodils, Narcissus, and How to Grow Them by Arthur Martin Kirby: 

“This is one of the most important sections of the medium-crown group. The type, wild over a large area throughout Southwestern Europe, was long considered a species, but comparatively recent proofs including artificial crosses between N. Pseudo-Narcissus and N. poeticus which reproduced the identical plant and flower, have caused N. incomparabilis to be generally recognised as a natural hybrid. There are now many varieties — mostly garden crosses. The distinguishing characteristic is a cup-shaped crown, one-third to three-quarters the length of the petals.

“Practically all the varieties may be depended upon for any purpose; they make charming pot plants and are graceful and un-excelled as cut flowers, showy for beds and borders and most effective for naturalising. The richness of colouring in the cup varies according to season and conditions of soil and exposure.”

From “On a Morning in May” by W. J. Turner in Poems of Today: Fourth Series by The English Association:

The Lilac is in flower, blue and white;
Laburnum drops its canopy of gold;
In their green tents the Limes’ dark limbs and cold
A heady effervescence of leaf-light
Bare to the Sun. Like bathers now upright
After a plunge Poplars their arms afold
Shiver with joy. Willows their heads unpolled
Bend to the stream their nymph-like tresses bright.
The grass is thick with bluebells, here and there
By a Narcissus’ star a drake’s bronzed head
Lifts from his wing, his squatting harem’s pride;
Tulips in vivid camps spread everywhere
Their turban-coloured joy. Bees bubbling tread
In mazy flight the air’s blue mountain side.

Hello!

This is the second of four posts exploring four daffodil varieties that I photographed at Oakland Cemetery earlier this year. The first post is Daffodils: A Gathering (1 of 4).

In that first post, I showed the varieties in a four-image gallery as a preview of the photos in this series. Just below I’ve repeated part of that gallery, reducing it to these three: Narcissus pseudonarcissus (top left), Narcissus tazetta (top right), and Narcissus × incomparabilis — the subject of this post…

… to show their visual relationships because Narcissus × incomparabilis is a hybrid of the other two. Its status as a natural versus developed hybrid gets much attention in daffodil literature, leading finally to the conclusion that this hybrid occurs naturally — and in abundance — in Europe’s wild landscapes. That’s not to imply that the specimens I photographed here are such natural hybrids, but simply that Narcissus × incomparabilis can exist as a hybrid independent of human intervention. Narcissus × incomparabilis is commonly called the Incomparable Daffodil directly from its scientific name and the reverence attributed to it by its fans. It’s also referred to as Chalice Daffodil and Chalice Narcissus (reflecting religious cultural connotations), or — echoing its incomparable appearance and status — Nonesuch Daffodil, Peerless Daffodil, and Star Daffodil.

That the plant in the third photo (Narcissus × incomparabilis) is a hybrid of the other two (Narcissus pseudonarcissus and Narcissus tazetta) can lead us to some informative observations about their visual similarities and differences. Note how the corona in Narcissus × incomparabilis is similar in both shape and color to the corona of Narcissus pseudonarcissus in the first image. As you look through the rest of the galleries below, you can see the intensity of yellow in coronas varies from a light, pale yellow above to a more saturated version, an indication that Narcissus × incomparabilis inherited the yellow color but expresses it in varying intensities.

That the Narcissus × incomparabilis corona is short compared to Narcissus pseudonarcissus reflects traits it inherited from the plant in the second image, where Narcissus tazetta is shown to possess a much more compact corona. And you can also see how Narcissus tazetta has contributed to the shapes of Narcissus × incomparabilis flower petals, which have evolved as rounded petals like those of Narcissus tazetta rather than the more oblong, pointed petals of Narcissus pseudonarcissus. What is made visible by comparing three related plants and differentiating the appearance of their common structures becomes a genetic or scientific study in itself, and, in the case of these three daffodils, shows us how one plant has evolved to contain characteristics, sometimes modified but abstractly similar, of its two parents.

Thanks for reading and taking a look!

Daffodils: A Gathering (1 of 4)

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From “Lent Lilies” in Garden Bulbs for the South by Scott Ogden:

“February in the South is a season of false promises. Unsuspecting blossoms are lured out during warm spells, only to be brutally reproached with the blue winds of northers. Strangely enough, there are certain plants whose peculiar demeanor suits them to this chancy weather. None is more welcome in gardens than the wild trumpet daffodil, or Lent lily, Narcissus pseudonarcissus.

“These wildlings are the earliest flowering of their race, usually appearing at the beginning of February. Perhaps because of the coldness of the season, the stems never reach as high as the daffodils that follow. The entire plant generally stays only six to eight inches tall.

“Despite this low stature, the blooms reach a respectable two to three inches in length. These proportions give the plants the charming aspect of alpine miniatures. Pale yellow, dog-eared petals frame the deeper yellow trumpets.

“The Lent lily is a wild European daffodil introduced to the South by early settlers. It has since spread far and wide in gardens, and has seeded and naturalized in fields and along roadsides. Although much like modern daffodils in construction, these wildflowers have a more relaxed appearance than their pedigreed descendants.

“Daffodils are strangely built flowers, with a unique apparatus for attracting pollinators and protecting pollen and nectar. The value of this becomes immediately apparent with an early flower like the Lent lily. All you need do is stand for a moment in a cold February sleet storm to appreciate the advantage of the trumpet-shaped coronas, which provide shelter to pollen and to the brave bees and other insects who venture out to visit the blossoms.”

From “The Groves of Blarney” by Richard Alfred Milliken in The Penguin Book of Irish Verse, introduced and edited by Brendan Kennelly: 

The groves of Blarney
They look so charming,
Down by the purling
Of sweet, silent brooks,
Being banked with posies
That spontaneous grow there,
Planted in order
By the sweet ‘Rock Close’.
‘Tis there the daisy
And the sweet carnation,
The blooming pink
And the rose so fair,
The daffodowndilly,
Likewise the lily,
All flowers that scent
The sweet, fragrant air…

Hello!

This is the first of four posts exploring four daffodil varieties that were mixing it up at Oakland Cemetery earlier this year. Oakland’s daffodils tend to flood the grounds from late February through the end of March, with some later-bloomers extending into early April. They’re often harbingers of the early or late arrival of spring — like this year, when warmer temperatures brought them out about eleven days earlier than usual because they’re more responsive to the environmental conditions than to the dates on our calendars.

Here are examples of the four varieties…

… that I’ve identified (from left to right, top to bottom) as Narcissus pseudonarcissus, Narcissus × incomparabilis, Narcissus tazetta, and Narcissus poeticus. Each species has its own stories to reveal, and comparing them to each other can lead to an unlimited number of related threads about their botanical and breeding characteristics, their history, and how they’ve been used in garden landscaping over several centuries. And comparing just these four — selected from dozens of species present on Oakland’s grounds — shows how visually diverse daffodils really are, from the more commonly recognized flower form in the first photo to something that almost looks like a plant from another species in the last photo. Identifying individual daffodil species can be a challenge, but this quad shows how the length and shape of the flowers’ coronas vary among them, and how the flower petals demonstrate varying degrees of length as well as curved or pointed edges — and these two characteristics together can be used to sort out their correct names.

Narcissus pseudonarcissus has the longest corona and with similarly long petals surrounding it; Narcissus × incomparabilis has a wider, flatter corona, often ruffled, with shorter curved flower petals; Narcissus tazetta typically has a short but bright red-orange corona with round (slightly crumpled, especially as they age) flower petals; and Narcissus poeticus has petals that are similar to those of Narcissus tazetta but makes itself distinct by a corona with a colorful edge that led to one of its common names, Pheasant-eye Daffodil. Pheasant-eye coronas are often saturated yellow with red-orange edging; but the ones I photographed this year have a much lighter, nearly white ground color that is actually a blend of pale yellow and very light green. This could mean the flowers had aged enough that the yellow component had faded; or, as likely, they’re simply a variant that produces a whiter corona. Either way, I found them interesting because the coronas were so close to white, a presentation I had not seen before in my stomps through Oakland.

Most of the daffodils in this post and the second one live here…

… where they add color to the corner of a large field and are somewhat sheltered by a Japanese Maple and surrounding shrubs. Our first species — Narcissus pseudonarcissus — is the quintessential daffodil, featuring the easily recognized yellow-orange color with flowers that often tip or nod, happily toward the sun. These are the “golden daffodils” starring in the well-known poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth, where their prominent billing introduces many starry, twinkling, dancing, waving, and colorful metaphors that persist to this day. Narcissus pseudonarcissus has acquired numerous common names over centuries — such as Wild Daffodil, Lent Lily or Lenten Lily, and Bell Rose. Their intriguing folk-name Daffodowndilly (or Daffadowndilly) can be found as far back as the sixteenth century (in The Herball, or, Generall historie of plantes by John Gerard) and in many poems such as Daffodowndilly by A. A. Milne and the excerpt from “The Groves of Blarney” by Richard Alfred Milliken that I included up-top. Common names that seem to cross species — like lily or rose for daffodils — are not unusual, as we’ve often seen here among my posts, and reflect visual similarities among plants and flowers from early botanical study that are never quite shaken off by later, more precise species or family identifications.

Thanks for reading and taking a look!

Campernelle Daffodils

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From “Hybrids of the Jonquil Group” in Daffodils and Narcissi: A Complete Guide to the Narcissus Family by Michael James Jefferson-Brown:

“Sheltering under the specific name N. odorus bestowed by Linnaeus are a series of hybrid plants, probably all arising from N. pseudo-narcissus × N. jonquilla, that has long been grown in gardens. N. odorus is the plant also known as the Campernelle Jonquil. In stature it is somewhat larger than N. jonquilla, has broader channelled dark green leaves and flower stems that carry an umbel of larger flowers than those of N. jonquilla with broader petals and a larger lobed cup….

“This larger plant is a very free-flowering variety of exceptional value in the border as well as in the rock garden. It is tall, reaching a foot in height, with erect, dark green shining foliage and many-headed stems of bright golden flowers. It will produce such quantities of bloom that a drift or clump of plants will remain a picture for a long period….”

From “Border Flowers” in Flowers and Their Histories by Alice M. Coats:

“The Jonquil section consists of those small, round-leaved, sweet-scented narcissi that take their name from the Spanish junquillo, a rush; and as in the case of the other groups, the principal species were already cultivated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. [John] Gerard grew N. jonquilla, and [John] Parkinson added the double form, and three varieties of the larger Campernelle Jonquil, N. odorus.”

From “Spring” in Singed Leaves: A Book of Haiku Poetry by Marshall Hryciuk:

the orange barely inside
              the yellow jonquil

screech of the nighthawk

Hello!

This post contains a series of photographs of a daffodil species I’ve often encountered at Oakland Cemetery that I recently learned is most likely Narcissus x odorus, commonly known as the Campernelle Daffodil. The plant’s status as a hybrid — as described above, of Narcissus pseudo-narcissus and Narcissus jonquilla — means there’s some ambiguity in my identification, given how many daffodil crosses there are. But the plant does visually demonstrate characteristics of the known hybrid, especially the size and shape of the flower bloom, its coloration, and the rush-like leaves surrounding each blooming stem.

The term “rushes” (from “jonquil” or the Spanish word “junquillo”) describes the plant’s slender leaves, which vary from somewhat flat to cylindrical, often displaying — as many daffodil leaves do — a blend of green and aqua blue colors. The abundant blooms — mixed among the plant’s tall leaves at about the same height — display single shades of yellow regardless of lighting conditions. Their tendency to wave in a breeze as they bend toward the sun creates moving dots of color filling the scene where I photographed them. The flowers themselves are smaller than those of many daffodils, but are large for daffodils in the jonquil division — which helps explain why they’re sometimes called Giant Jonquils instead of Campernelles.

Of daffodils that have posed for me at Oakland, this variant shows the most consistent yellow color between the petals and corona. To the extent that some of the flowers appear to show shades of orange, that’s typically how we interpret darker or more shadowed yellow color — yellow itself containing tones that vary from a pale color to one just inside the range of colors we see as orange. When I examine the colors of the flower petals in Lightroom, Lightroom finds orange only in the darkest sections of the flower and in just a few pixels — “the orange barely visible” as in the Haiku I included above — and that orange disappears if you tip the flower toward the light.

I hadn’t really planned it this way, but the last two series of posts along with this one constitute a “walking tour” of one of Oakland’s named sections: Bell Tower Ridge, designated that way because its geographic elevation is higher than the rest of the property, and it’s adjacent to the 1899 Bell Tower that was recently rehabilitated from a visitor center to an event space.

Through the photographs, we stepped our way from Lady Banks’ Rose at the intersection near the Bell Tower building…

… to the Duncan memorial with white double Narcissus tazetta daffodils, where we noted the presence of an aged gazebo…

… to pass by the gazebo and find it located within the subject of this post, with Campernelle Daffodils as border plants to one of Oakland’s most recognizable buildings, the E. W. Marsh Mausoleum — an example of Gothic Revival architecture constructed in 1890 and featuring two six-foot-tall bronze urns at its entrance.

The contrast in scale between the relatively small, scattered groups of Campernelles and the monuments they accentuate could very well have been intentional. It was common in the decades of the cemetery’s founding and early Victorian garden design to incorporate landscaping and border plants to emulate wild-like conditions. This approach would create visual characteristics blending the dominating stone monuments and structures with soft, colorful forms from he natural world, where daffodils would occupy sunnier boundary regions and proliferate in somewhat random clumps. The 1894 book The Wild Garden by William Robinson — highly influential in the decades aligned with Oakland’s development — described this approach as “Narcissus meadow gardening” where daffodil varieties were planted to bloom in succession, in large volumes, and left to propagate unimpeded. As Robinson explained (with jonquil daffodils and Narcissus poeticus as examples):

“A very delightful feature of the Narcissus meadow gardening is the way great groups follow each other in the fields. When the Star Narcissi begin to fade a little in their beauty the Poets follow, and as I write this paper we have the most beautiful picture I have ever seen in cultivation….

“Five years ago I cleared a little valley of various fences, and so opened a pretty view. Through the meadow runs a streamlet. We grouped the Poet’s Narcissus near it, and through a grove of Oaks on a rising side of the field. We have had some beauty every year since; but this year, the plants having become established, or very happy for some other reason, the whole thing was a picture such as one might see in an Alpine valley!

“The flowers were large and beautiful when seen near at hand, and the effect in the distance delightful. This may, perhaps, serve to show that this kind of work will bring gardening into a line with art, and that the artist need not be for ever divorced from the garden, by geometrical patterns which cannot possibly interest anybody accustomed to drawing beautiful forms and scenes. I need say no more to show the good qualities of this group of plants for wild gardening, many places having much greater advantages than mine for showing their beauty in the rich stretches of grass by pleasure-ground walks. Various kinds of places may be adorned by Narcissi in this way — meadows, woods, copses, wood walks, and drives through ornamental woodland and pleasure grounds….”

Campernelles are heirloom daffodils, so their history as old garden plants also aligns with both Robinson’s garden design concepts and how Victorian gardens and garden memorials evolved, and they would have been thought of as heirlooms in the decades leading to the rise of Victorian gardens. If the relationships between these subjects interest you, the article Heirloom ‘Campernelle’ has a nice overview of the plant’s history and its use, as well as several photos showing the kind of placement we see at Oakland — where clusters of plants create color and structure in the landscape but the plants are still permitted to venture out on their own and propagate wildly.

Thanks for reading and taking a look!