Garden Alphabet: Daffodil (Narcissus)

Daffodil (Narcissus)

I have been planting daffodils over the last 3-4 years here in my garden, adding to the small group that was here when we first purchased this house. I love their shining yellow faces at this time of year. They provide such a show during this time when most of the trees are still without leaves. I find myself taking way to many pictures of these flowers, but they attract my attention every time I go into the garden or pull my car out of the driveway. They also provide the longest bloom time of any of the bulbs in the garden, Depending on the soil, water and sun, some daffodil beds appear long after others and extend the overall bloom.

Narcissus (pron.: /nɑrˈsɪsəs/) is a genus of mainly hardy, mostly spring-flowering, bulbous perennials in the Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae.[1] Various common names including daffodil, narcissus, and jonquil are used to describe all or some of the genus. They are native to meadows and woods in Europe, North Africa and West Asia, with a center of distribution in the Western Mediterranean.[2] The number of distinct species varies widely depending on how they are classified, with the disparity due to similarity between species and hybridization between species. The number of defined species ranges from 26 to more than 60, depending on the authority.[3] Species and hybrids are widely used in gardens and landscapes. — Wikipedia.org