Narcissus Spring Sunshine

Narcissus Spring Sunshine is a rare variety, of which very little is known. It resembles the botanical Narcissus 'Tête à Tête', with its small size and ability to produce multiple small flowers per stem. But its flowers are in softer tones, with petals of a paler yellow and a slightly orangish small crown. The early flowering starts in February-March and continues for several weeks. It is an easy plant to grow in well-drained soil and it settles well in the garden. Dwarf varieties are ideal for rockeries and containers.

Narcissus Spring Sunshine, just like its presumed parent 'Tête à Tête', belongs to the amaryllidaceae family. This variety, which is not yet officially registered, is distributed in the horticultural trade by a few specialist nurseries, mostly in Australia. The Narcissus genus includes about 50 species found mainly in the Western Mediterranean, but also in Africa and Asia. The cyclamineus species, from which it originates, is native to northwest Portugal and northwest Spain and gets its name from its outer petals that form a completely reflexed corolla, like cyclamens. This characteristic is often greatly reduced in its hybrid descendants.

The 'Spring Sunshine' narcissus, which possesses some traits of this species, is a small vigorous plant that reaches about 15 cm (6in) high for the foliage, 25 cm (10in) in flower in open ground. In pots, the stems can reach 30cm (12in). Its slightly fragrant and discreetly bicoloured flowers are composed of a corolla of slightly translucent, tender yellow petals, on which is a rather short, slightly wavy crown, yellow tending towards orange. It flowers very early and will naturalise in the garden within 3 or 4 years, through the production of bulblets.

'Spring Sunshine' is undemanding and will thrive in any well-drained and loosened soil, but the results are not as good in soils that are too wet, especially in summer, or excessively acidic. There is such a choice of varieties among narcissus that you can enjoy them for three months, in spring, without ever getting bored. They all naturalise easily, love yellow and white, and often emit sweet fragrances. So many reasons to grow them in large groups (at least 20 bulbs) for an enhanced effect. Combine Narcissus 'Spring Sunshine' and 'Tête à Tête' in natural-looking beds and rockeries, with scillas, crocuses, and hyacinths, early flowering botanical tulips, forget-me-nots, pansies, or liverworts. This narcissus is also perfect in pots.