episode 212| show notes & advice
episode description
Narcissi are such rewarding plants to grow, tolerant of almost any site and situation. At Perch Hill in particular, it’s shaping up to be a stellar spring for the humble daffodil and its more diminutive narcissus relatives.
Whether it’s perenniality, perfume or punchy colours that you’re after in your own garden, in this week’s ‘grow, cook, eat, arrange’ Sarah shares her personal edit of the longest-flowering and most fragrant narcissi varieties to grow.
In this episode, discover
- Why planting narcissi in your garden can be a viable alternative to tulips as the climate continues to change
- Top varieties for long, light flowering patterns (flowering a little over a long period of time), fabulous fragrance, and superb perenniality
- How best to plant your narcissi so that they stand out in a successional bulb lasagne
links and references
Order Sarah’s new book - A Year Full of Pots
Order Sarah’s book - A Year Full of Flowers
Order Sarah’s book - A Year Full of Veg
Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook | Sarah Raven
Shop on the Sarah Raven Website
Get in touch: info@sarahraven.com
Episode 212 advice sheet
Why narcissi can sometimes be a more reliable, rewarding growing experience than tulips (0:00)
Not to dispute tulips’ beauty, but given the very wet growing conditions many of us were faced with last year, Sarah offers several great reasons why narcissi should earn a spot in your garden.
In low-light and damp, humid conditions you’ll see fewer fungal issues on narcissi, they’re renowned for their perfume, and there are so many incredible varieties for perenniality.
Great varieties for long, light cropping patterns (10:00)
Another wonderful quality to narcissi is that, with some varieties, you'll find a very long, light flowering pattern - Sarah tells a story of a winter spent in Crete where the same clump of ‘Narcissus tazetta’ was flowering for over two months.
Some other varieties worth noting for their long, light cropping pattern are the prolific and perfumed ‘Avalanche’ and strikingly orange-centred ‘Cragford’.
Top varieties for pots (14:00)
Among the smaller varieties perfect for pots are a gorgeous trio; first is ‘Pipit’ whose colours actually change as the leaves develop, giving you both primrose yellow and cream, and then ‘Snipe’ and ‘Minnow’ which are both so small but unbelievably mighty in their beauty and scent.
How narcissi are planted at Perch Hill (17:20)
If you need inspiration for how best to plant narcissi, we’ve got them planted at Perch Hill in 30cm deep trenches on a bed of grit, as part of a successional bulb lasagne.
The narcissi form the bottom layer, spaced twice as far apart as they would be in a pot, with Dutch Iris planted over the top and bordered by Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ and Hyacinth ‘Anastasia’.
