{"id":11858,"date":"2008-10-26T23:12:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-27T03:12:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-13T19:00:10","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T23:00:10","slug":"first-narcissus-of-fall-meansim-bored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardern.co.za\/2008\/10\/first-narcissus-of-fall-meansim-bored\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Narcissus of Fall means…I’m bored?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nNarcissus serotinus<\/p>\n
I get bored easily. <\/p>\n
This is not a very practical trait, but then again, no one will ever label me a one who is practical.<\/p>\n
When I become bored, it’s also not due to depression or of a lack of having anything to do, I simple grow less interested, and start looking for new stimuli. And so it is with my plants. The best way for me to fight my over-curious mind, is to continually introduce new stimuli, be it another genus to explore and collect, or the addition of a rare species of Narcissus, such as this new bulb of a early autumn blooming species from the area around the Mediterranean mainly Corsica, Crete, Cyprus, the East Aegean Islands, France, Greece, and Italy where this tiny Narcissus grows wild ( it’s indeed surprisingly tiny – no larger than a dime). This bulb cannot freeze, so I keep it in my fall blooming Narcissus collection, which inhabits about 25 square feet of bench space in my glasshouse.
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\nThese 25 square feet dedicated to a collection is about normal for me, who has another 25 feet dedicated to the small South African bulb genus Romulea, and another 25 square feet ( or maybe it’s more like 50 Square feet) dedicated to Lachenalia, another for fall and winter growing Cyclamen species, another for Nerine, another for Oxalis …well, you get the picture.<\/p>\n
The problem is this…I work all week.
\nI commute home late, and in the winter it is dark.
\nIn the morning it is also dark when I leave.
\nThe greenhouse is relatively automatic, with vents, and watering can often wait until the weekend.
\nI have had the greenhouse for 8 years now, that means * autumns of Narcissus that bloom in the autumn, 8 winters of the same pots of Lachenalia, the same species blooming every year, sometimes better than others, which is a little interesting, but now many are starting to feel more like a burdon, well, more like a dependent than anything else. And the heating costs don’t help much either.<\/p>\n