Today I would like to introduce you to …
Narcissus
The Lent Lily
March’s flower of the month are the Narcissi (or daffodils).
I really love these yellow flowers - when the cheap bunches of green stems come to the supermarket in the early spring I, like many others, snatch them up to fill jam jars at home. I also set dates in the calendar to plant them in November so I can see them in my flower beds and pots after the winter gloom, and my mum and I have fun counting them in their hundreds in her river bank garden.
Nothing brings joy like seeing them in the dark grey days as a sign of hope for warmer days and blue skies.
Here is what I found out about the Narcissus plant.
The amazing charity Marie Curie use the daffodil as a symbol of their wonderful work in helping those who are terminally ill.
And in Wales they are growing their national flower to fight against Alzheimer’s symptoms by harvesting the daffodil flower (as it contain a chemical called galantamine which is known to slow the progression of the disease.)
I thought I knew lots about the native and humble herald of spring with all the poems that were written and the pictures painted. They all point to hope and a journey from dark winter to the lighter spring months.
One of my favourite childhood poems is:
Daffodowndilly
by A. A Milne
She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south windAnd curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour:
"Winter is dead."
Also have you seen the beautiful picture that Van Gogh painted called,
'Undergrowth with two figures'. It happens to be one of his last paintings.
With all of its inspiration and goodness, it turns out that our simple beauty although presenting herself as is a straightforward bloom is a more complicated Miss than we thought and has some hidden secrets.
In matter of fact she could be a femme fatale if not respected and handled with care. I don’t want to alarm you but the sweet and innocent looking, seemingly child friendly, Easter bonnet favourite is a little darker than we think.
A sub member of the amaryllis family which is divided into 3 groups, namely:
-The Agapanthus, being one them,
-Onions, garlic and chives being the friendly second and
-The amaryllis, narcissi and snowdrops being the 3rd darker sisters of the three.
Narcissi with all the varieties like, the miniature Tête á tête, the delicate Paperwhite, the multi bloom Jonquil and the traditional Daffodil are all poisonous to everything except her sister flowers that we talked about above and her best friends, Iris and Allium.
The advice is wear gloves to prevent itching, prepare them before putting in a vase with other cut flowers (see below) don’t sniff her if you are sensitive to headaches, don’t plant her next to roses, cabbages or rice (as it stunts the growth) and definitely don’t eat any part of the flower! And if you have to pick her with bare hands wash them after.
On the plus side if you want to deter rodents or deer plant a heap of them.
I did not know that - did you?
Love and heaps of blessings,
Tori
I’ve put notes below if you want to know any more…
This website, Sciencenotes.org, as well as outlining the toxicity of daffodils, offers this advice for daffodils as a cut flower. The following paragraphs are quotes taken from the daffodil page.
“First, some bouquets contain flowers that either aren’t affect by Narcissus toxins or even thrive on it. You can safely combine daffodils, jonquils, narcissus, snowdrops, amaryllis, and flowering allium. Irises actually last longer in a vase with daffodils, due to the presence of the alkaloid narciclasine.
If you want to combine daffodils with other flowers, you need to pre-condition them. Cut the daffodils, trim them to the desired length, and soak them in clean water for at least an hour before adding them to a mixed bouquet. Soaking dilutes alkaloids and dissolves excess mucilage. Do not trim the daffodil stems after soaking or you’ll release more mucilage.
Don’t add “flower food” or “flower preservative” to any Narcissus bouquet because (a) the daffodils don’t need it and may even be harmed by it and (b) daffodils release sugars that can nourish the other flowers.”
Another useful website is the Kew Gardens one - link below.
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