Narcissus Thalia

Gillian

10 years ago

A few sunny days and plenty of rain and our Spring Garden has burst into life. I’ve deliberately kept to a simple colour palette because as you know I tend to go a bit mad with a riot of colours in our summer and autumn planting schemes. It’s quite unlike me to be tasteful so I like to make the most of it at this time of year!

The year starts off with Snowdrops… nothing fancy just the common Galanthus nivalis and lots of them. Hyacinths and Hellebores (all shades of pink) and Primula vulgaris in palest yellow follow on as soon as the Snowdrops fade and then it’s the turn of the blues… Anemone blanda, Crocus, Muscari armeniacum and deep blue Pulmonaria add a nice contrast to all the pale lemon and ivory plants.

At first everything is low growing and mound shaped and then the daffodils start to push their way through.

I must confess that I do grow bright yellow daffodils elsewhere but here in the Spring Garden I’m sticking to my tasteful theme and pale cream and ivory are the order of the day. My favourite Daffodil is Thalia. It’s multi headed and quite relaxed in habit which fits nicely with the relaxed feeling in our garden. Sometimes plants can be too straight and upright don’t you think? Especially in a country garden.

What’s really lovely about Narcissus ‘Thalia’ is that it multiplies by forming new plants within the same clump and also self seeds speading around gently. They soon begin to look as if they have been spread by nature… which indeed they have. Like most daffodils Thalia is easy going and will grow in most gardens. They do best in full sun or in the dappled shade under mature trees or deciduous shrubs. You can grow them in containers and they are great for cutting too. They will last about a week in a vase indoors.