Narcissus and other florals in Macedon

All of my Narcissus bulbs in Macedon have finally fired up and I now have a flower or more from each of them. Below is the Narcissus x tazetta 'greats ballade'. It's the type of flower most people would associate with the word 'daffodil' however daffodil is just a common name for the genus Narcissus, so it actually describes all the species under the Narcissus genus. In some of these pictures the sun was shining behind the flowers making them appear they are glowing. Narcissus x tazetta is native to southern Europe.

The next two pictures are of unknown bulbs. I got them in a mixed bulb pack so I'm not sure what they are. The first looks to be Narcissus x jonquila 'paperwhite' and the next plant is called Narcissus x jonquila 'erlicheer'.

Lastly for this post is a picture of my grape hyacinths which have just strated to flower. I bought these at the flower and garden show this year thinking they had large flowers only to find out later that they are small. Anyway I love the shape of them so its not the end of the world. The botanical name for grape hyacinths is Muscari latifolium. A common name for this plant is 'Baby's Breath'. This one is only half open.



My garden in Macedon

The climate in the Macedon highlands is cooler than in Melbourne. It is 505m above sea level as opposed to 31m above sea level in the plains that are Melbourne. Today here was no exception, when I was outside at 1pm today it was 3 degrees Celsius! Below is a picture of the same hyacinths that I photographed for my very first blog entry 9 days ago. I moved this pot from Parkville to Macedon around 4 weeks ago. They are from the same bulb stock and are planted identically (ie same potting mix / same type of pot / same density of bulbs per pot). You can see how they have only just opened whereas the ones in Parkville are fully bloomed. I've learnt the hard way (several times) how the climate up here does means certain plants will not grow. On the other hand we have colder climate plants that will grow up here but not in Melbourne.

Narcissus jonquilla (common name jonquil) is a species of daffodil. They are very popular  flowers throughout the Macedon ranges. Like most ornamental bulbs they do not flower for a long time but it is well worth the wait through the year when you see them as spectacular as the ones below. After they stop flowering I may dig some up and replant them elsewhere in my garden. The daffodil festival is coming up soon in Kyneton not far from my home http://www.kynetondaffodilarts.org.au/.



 Last of all is the floral emblem of Australia the wattle which is of the genus Acacia. To be precise the floral emblem of Australia is the golden wattle Acacia pycnantha. It is known for its golden globular inflorescences and strong perfume. The wattle I have is not pycnantha as it has feathery bipinnate leaves and the golden wattle has more lance shaped leaves. Although it is quite common in Australia I thought I'd mention it as I'm now noticing its yellow flowers from the corner of my eye when I drive home on the freeway.