Our Southern season is beginning very slowly , with much of the North Island recovering from record rainfalls , delivered by the tail end of two tropical cyclones .Soils are saturated here , also the Nelson and Waikato regions ,as we are all struggling to get the bulbs planted .But the early , autumn flowering daffs , most notably the tazettas , are emerging and flowering about a month ahead of schedule . Nothing like 15 inches of rain to break your summer dormancy .We cannot match Lawrence Trevanion , in Canberra , Australia , for the great range he has been showing , very early , but most local growers have a few blooms out as we patiently wait for the soil to dry and allow planting to continue .
The wet late summer and autumn has triggered the early tazettas and paperwhites and we have been getting an increasing numbers of flowers from early April .This would have to be one of the earliest seasons I can recall but must be tempered by remembering that early starts to the season seldom has the same affect on our show season in September .Here are a few flowers from locals , some taken about 2 weeks ago .
A very bright pot of Sternbergia , from local Julie Harris .
Not a lot out at Wilfred Halls , but this early Tazetta was impressive .
John Hollever had a nice line of TAHI , always with the first tazettas . Also several poly trays of 2 year old jonquilla seedlings , emerging and growing strongly .They were from open pollinated FERTILE CRESENT , which is usually late flowering . Several of the main season flowering jonqillas and tazettas have this early emergence habit and it can be a difficulty if a spray program is used for weed control . They certainly have been growing vigorously .
TAHI has been flowering for several weeks .
Just a head of the line of John Hunter raised paperwhites , from Bill Welch seed .
The very first of the daff trumpets are about a month early , – all seedlings under number .
Also just a few of my early orange cup KICKSTART
Usually the last to be planted , as they are the last to flower , are the poets , the Pheasant Eyes . A few nice Pheasant Eyes , sparkling now at Julies .
The first of the market flowers , a few tazettas and paperwhites , will be in the market for the Wednesday sale , 2 weeks earlier than last season .
It would be odd to have daffodils at planting time. I cannot imagine it! What are these beautiful birds, John? Not really pheasants, are they? Are they wild? Just hanging around? Do they fly away? Are they pests? The photos show fencing, is that to keep the birds in or out? I need more details! :)
~Suzy
Get the pun Suzy, they are pheasants eyes that we see. Maybe if we look closely we will see how the daffodil got its nickname. Purebred pheasants are often kept in captivity.
Dave
Hi Suzy ,
Thanks for your interest in our flowers and birdlife .The real life pheasants are GOLDEN PHEASANTS or CHINESE GOLDEN PHEASANTS .Hand feeding one of the males is Julie Harris , keen daffodil exhibitor , particularly strong in the tazetta classes and very keen on the big range of NZ raised Poets , – the Pheasant Eyes , as David has noted . There is also another strong Daffodil connection to these birds . NZ National Daffodil Society Executive member WAYNE HUGHES , is a keen bird fancier and breeder . He has for several decades been breeding these Golden Pheasants , selecting for very strong colours . We all agree that the results are exceptional .He supplied the grandparents of these two young males which free range in Julies garden . You correctly noticed the boys looking at the wire enclosure . It is a big aviary , which holds a few girlfriends . The hens are very plain coloured but still boys will be boys .Talk at our spring shows is often about breeding the birds , as well as the daffs . Cheers John .
As all birders know, the ladies tend to dress in camo so that they can sit on the nest and protect the babies. The gents, however are all about flashy dress so as to attract the ladies and then distract the predators. Mother nature sure is wily!