but I hope to do so by planting the bulbs during the fall.......
maybe October.
Narcissus are daffodils.......which I have grown......
but I really want to try the white ones this year.
Narcissus are hardy and easy to grow. They like full or half day sun but do just as well in shady spots.
In the middle of a project I am embroidering, one of the flowers is
the Narcissus
I love to embroider flowers and insects, because the world of nature is full of amazing color.
For the folklore of this flower..........
Greek mythology tells us how narcissus plants came to be.
Echo was a mountain nymph who fell madly in love with a beautiful young man, Narcissus.
Narcissus was a vain youth and cared for nothing but his own beauty. He spent all his time looking at his own reflection in a pool of water and spurned Echo's love until she finally faded away, leaving nothing but her voice. The gods, angry with Narcissus because of his vanity, changed him into a flower who was destined always to sit by a pool nodding at his own reflection.
Similar versions of this myth occur in Rome, Arabia, Egypt, Spain, and Portugal.
For medicinal purposes........
Though Narcissus bulbs are poisonous, they have been used medicinally for centuries. A doctor named Galen was a surgeon at the school of gladiators in Rome. His favorite salve to "glue great wounds, cuts, and gashes" was the juice from the Narcissus bulbs.
The bulbs are said to have been a standard bit of medication in the first-aid bags of Roman soldiers. European peasants would mix the juice with honey and apply it to cuts or swollen joints.
The word Narcissus is from the Greek word narkeo, meaning "to be stupified," and this alludes to the poisonous properties of the plant.
The bulbs contain lycorcine which paralyzes the heart and numbs the nervous system. Scientists are testing chemicals from Narcissus bulbs as a possible treatment fro multiple sclerosis.
Narcissus is the Chinese symbol of good fortune and the emblem of winter. In Japan, it is the symbol of mirth and joyousness and emblem of formality.
The love of Narcissus is ancient.
Mohammed is said to have said, "Let him who hath two loaves sell one, and buy the flower of Narcissus: for bread is but food for the body, whereas Narcissus is food for the soul."
*** The folklore of this flower is from the book:
Garden Flower Folklore by Laura C. Martin"
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