A friend of mine wants to grow tazetta/species (?) that have leaves that are a minimum of 16″long–prefers 2 feet.When in fields in Japan he said the narcissus were over knee high. He is growing something called tazetta-species (could possibly be Geranium as that is what the flower looks like to him…..or could it be Chinese Sacred Lily?) He would appreciate any suggestions for varieties that would have the longest leaves. He lives in the Boulder, Colorado area and could grow whatever outside and then overwinter in a garage. He is an Ikenobo Ikebana teacher and needs the leaves for Ikebana arrangements. The flowers are secondary for his needs. Any tazetta would be fine. Any ideas? I apologize for the very poor photo which shows an arrangement done with leaves that are not long enough for the style. The flowers don’t show up in this photo, but perhaps you get the idea?
For me Avalanche and Grand Primo Citroniere grow dark green leaves up to 36″ long, especially if grown in a shady spot
Dave
I’m inclined to agree with Dave about ‘Avalanche’ and probably any of the “tender” tazettas which don’t grow well in my climate. I think even ‘Erlicheer’ gets long leaves if it’s grown where it isn’t frozen off early on.
Mary Lou
I will comment on the arrangement itself. Since I took lessons in Ikenobo Ikebana for several years, I know some about the style. The flower is shown in the arrangement. It is just above the second leaf on the left. Since Ikenobo is very precise and spare looking, that is all the arranger chose to put in the arrangement -just one bloom. For the height of the container the leaves are a bit too short. They may have been fine in a shorter container. or even one that was narrower.
My Avalanche still has its’ leaves and I measured them. The longest is 25 inches. It’s not in a wet spot.
Donna
As an admirer of my mothers [ and many friends ] floral art and having seen many varied styles come in and out of fashion in over 50 years , observing , I,m always pleased to see floral art get a mention .
The tallest , most upright daff foliage in my garden is , without question the early tazetta lines raised by Bill Welch / Max Hamilton . We have just had a few heavy frosts so they have finally fallen over from their very upright growth , easily over a metre , straight up .The vigour of these polyploids is amazing ; for early season foliage I would certaily suggest you contact ” Bill the Bulb Baron .” I have also seen the foliage of jonquillas used in arrangements . It is quite a different form to the standards , very much more ” quilla ” with the narrow , dark green and very upright growth , but not as tall as the tazettas mentioned . Oregon Gold is a vigorous Jonquilla worth a try . Of the standards , the foliage of ! W – W Neahkaknie always amazes me with it,s width , – often well over an inch wide .Trumpet foliage is also generally much more upright , but not as tall as tazettas .
I also recall the remarks of my old boss , when Ikebana was growing in fashion , possibly around the early 1980 ; Ted , director of a large wholesale flower market and a big daff grower , commented – ” I hope this doesn,t catch on , — they don,t use enough flowers – that,s not good for business .
Cheers John .