ABC Wednesday: J

Today is Wednesday, which means we have reached the letter J, perfect for a spring bouquet of . . .

Jonquils!

Jonquils, Daffodils, Narcissus . . . no matter what you call them, to me they represent the beginning of spring. No other spring blossom makes me as joyous and jubilant as the daffodil. It is a sign that spring has finally arrived. And yes, these first two photos were taken in my garden just this morning.



My mother always called these flowers jonquils, while I refer to all of them as daffodils. Both of these belong to the genus Narcissus, but while narcissus and daffodils are somewhat interchangeable names, the jonquil is actually a specific type, Narcissus jonquilla. Jonquils have very narrow, almost cylindrical stems with 1-5 flowers per stem, while other daffodils have flat leaves. They are also more fragrant than other daffodils.

Although daffodils propagate by seed, the seeds take 5-7 years to bloom, so most gardeners plant bulbs instead. "Commercial growers in Holland propagate daffodils by tissue culture, slicing bulbs into as many as 64 thin slices, each of which then grows into a bulblet in about 10 weeks. Daffodil fanciers create hybrids and new cultivars by dusting pollen from one plant onto the pistil of another, and then harvesting the seeds." (Buzzle.com) According to this article, daffodils may be divided every two years, but I prefer to let them grow as much as possible, dividing them less often.

". . .I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils:
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. "

--William Wordsworth

Poets have sung the praises of daffodils, and they have been a part of history since ancient times. The name Narcissus comes from the Greek myth about a young man who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool and drowned. The sympathetic gods turned him into a flower for eternity. In Roman times, Roman soldiers supposedly carried daffodils with them to eat "if they should be mortally wounded in battle, in order to hasten their journey to the underworld." (Buzzle.com) And medieval Arabs used the juice of the wild daffodil as a cure for baldness.

Whether the daffodil has any supernatural or medicinal properties or not, I simply enjoy them for their cheery faces when spring begins. Until this year, I have had only the typical yellow varieties of daffodils, but last fall I planted a few more of different varieties including double-ruffled and white ones with pink centers like those pictured below. I can't wait for them all to bloom to see some new faces in the garden.

photo from Dutch bulbs.com

According to Wikipedia, the name jonquil is often used in the southeastern United States to refer to all daffodils/narcissus, and in the South they may also be referred to as buttercups. Whatever you choose to call them, to paraphrase old Will, " . . . what's in a name? That which we call the jonquil would still smell as sweet."

"He that has two cakes of bread, let him sell one of them for some flowers of the Narcissus, for bread is food for the body, but Narcissus is food of the soul."

--Mohammed

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