'Atelier'
High Winter - Mid-December to Early January
After years of discussions, a selection of tazettas will be available through PHS Daffodils, owned by the renowned Jason Delany of St. Louis, MO. A long time daffodil buddy and occasional partner in crime, Jason's commitment to the genus Narcissus is unwavering and inspired.
Varieties offered for 2025 are: 'Atelier', 'Astrid's Winter Stars', 'Hattie's Delight', 'Icebox Pie', 'Maquette', 'Miss Linda', 'Miss Lindsay', "Mont Crenel" (to be registered in 2026), 'Perkins Lemon Cordial' and 'Yulinglong'/"Double Chinese."
Tall "florist flower" varieties are: 'Atelier', 'Astrid's Winter Stars', 'Icebox Pie', 'Maquette' and "Mont Crenel."
Short varieties are: 'Hattie's Delight', 'Miss Lindsay' and 'Perkins Lemon Cordial'.
Quantities are limited.
Winter tazettas are very responsive to weather conditions, meaning they wiggle about on the calendar year to year based on hurricane rains, late heat waves with drought, and cold snaps or lack thereof. Shade from trees or annuals which keep soils cooler will slow down foliage emergence. Heavy rains in July or August will trigger root growth. Fall heat waves with drought will slow down the growth cycle. All that said, bloom seasons given here are based on five years (or longer) of growing data in north Florida near the Gulf of Mexico.
Tazetta species originated around the Mediterranean basin, and thus their progeny prefer weather and soil conditions similar to the ancestral homeland. As much of the Mediterranean region is karst, or limestone, topography, most tazettas prefer an alkaline soil. Paperwhites, however, are more of a generalist type group and will grow well in a closer to neutral if not slightly acidic soil.
Tazettas are somewhat cold hardy, down to 24* F without floret damage (if not prolonged and if no frost/ice). Watering repeatedly two to three days in advance of a hard cold snap will ensure the plants have as much water as possible in their leaves and stems. This turgor pressure will help to keep stems from bending. If they do bend, you can use a shish kabob skewer as a stake and tie up the stem to ensure sap flows to the florets (it works!).
However, frost is a different issue. The foliage will need protection from frost, as the small damaged spots become susceptible to fungal attack in very damp climates . Though easily treated by fungicide spray, it is easier to protect the foliage with frost cloth. Planting tazettas in a location on the south side of a tree canopy, which breaks up the settling of frost, can work well.
Ice and snow, and prolonged periods well below freezing, are altogether a different story. Florets encased in frost can rebound, and even in snow if it's only for a morning. Multiple days below freezing, with or without ice/snow, will toast the flowers and stems for the season. If it's really bad, you'll lose the foliage too. But, if a bulb hasn't yet sent up stems, you might get a late season bloom.
Tazettas, little oddballs of nature that they are, keep growing their foliage for most of the season. In the coastal south, that means six months or longer. This annoying habit allows the bulb to offset a hard freeze in the long term - it may lose its bloom but the new foliage ensures the bulb rebounds for the next season. In Atlanta, the paperwhite 'Miss Linda' froze completely to the ground more than one season (temperatures at 8*-10*F), to later rebound and have a good bloom the following season. However, multiple hard freezes in a single season will substantially sap the bulb. If your climate has multiple hard freezes (below 21*) in a season, consider growing in large containers that you can move indoors as needs be.
Tazettas are heavy feeders, and need to be nourished accordingly. Updated soil test results will be published here by Fall 2025. They are much happier in very well draining soil, to offset rot. Summer irrigation systems are a definite no-no. They are quite happy being overplanted with summer annuals that can be removed when the foliate starts getting of size.