My paperwhite narcissi Ziva in early December – picture taken with my versatile Olympus C-765 Ultra Zoom
The pot of paperwhite narcissi was a bit of an experiment, really. I always thought they would be a good idea for Christmas and this year I actually got around to buying a do-it-yourself kit from Marks & Spencer.
I planted the three bulbs in their white oval pot on November 10 and the instructions said they would take eight to 12 weeks to flower, so I hoped they might be ready for Christmas Day.
The M & S packaging
As it happened they were in full bloom by the beginning of December and now the flowers have turned all crispy and dead. For a while, though, they were “ready for their close-up” and I took some pictures.
Paperwhite narcissi – picture taken with my Nikon micro lens…
The back of the narcissi flowers…
You won’t see any longer views of the narcissi in their pot, though, as the stems grew all leggy and fell over. Too late did I read the instructions: Stake if necessary. Turn the bowl occasionally as flowers will grow towards the light…
The instructions
I wish now that I had taken a picture of the bulb kit when I first bought it (see the packaging picture below). The little discs of dehydrated compost were intriguing. “Those will never fill that big pot,” I thought. But they were truly amazing. I just added water and they expanded hugely into plenty of fluffy, light, earthy stuff.
Those little disks of dehydrated compost are amazing!
So the experiment was interesting, but if I were to grow paperwhites again I would buy lots and grow them in a tall glass container as Ted Kennedy Watson did…
Click on the picture to go to Ted Kennedy Watson’s blog…
or I could bind them around with white ribbon…
Click on the image to go to Katie’s Capital District Fun blog…
Finally, some words… according to Wikipedia the name narcissus comes from the Greek narkao, meaning “I grow numb” – as the bulb has narcotic properties. That’s what Pliny thought, although many people prefer to relate it to the myth of a young man called Narcissus, who faded away and died after falling in love with his reflection in a pool.
Metamorphosis of Narcissus by Salvador Dali
The common word for narcissus is daffodil, and this apparently comes from “asphodel”, the name of a different flower. It’s a typical example of the way the mongrel English language has developed. Add a D (for “the” in some Germanic language), subtract the S in the way the French often did, and there you are, daffadown dilly…
And by the way, “bulb” comes from the Greek bolbos, meaning onion…
Your photographs of the paperwhites are beautiful, I left it to late to buy them this year unfortunately. I love the scent of them. I usually plant them in shallow glass bowls with pebbles. That tall glass container Ted used looks such a good idea, mine have always got top heavy too.
Sarah x
Thanks for commenting
I’m not sure whether it’s the variety I bought, but I couldn’t smell mine unless I put my nose quite close – only then was the smell strong. I had read somewhere that they fill your room with fragrance? Maybe just as well they didn’t, anyway, as they have that heady scent that can veer over to smelling like sweet peas – or pee!
Have a good day down by the sea in Dorset…
Mine grew really quickly and flowered over a month ago – they reached a height of about two feet – the flowers are so pretty and have an unusual fragrance – your photo at the top is lovely.
Thank you for that. Looks like we had a similar experience. If there’s anyone out there who can breed a short, dwarf version, I’ll buy them again!
Best wishes
I have never tried to grow these..I do like the ribbon idea.. my two cats would have eaten the flowers and smeared the soil all over the carpet that is a cream color..who put cream rugs in this house..it is crazy…Michelle