Flower power

What parts of the yard aren't scented by narcissi are offering an aura of hyacinth. Five types of narcissus are delighting us right now: paperwhite forced long ago indoors in pots, Montopolis narcissi with many blooms on a stalk and tiny bubble-like cups that are yellow, and an all-white mystery narcissus that's not either of the first two, along with Avalanche and Minnow. Near the ornamental pear tree are the finest of blue hyacinths; in front are two pink ones already. There are blue wood hyacinths on the oak motte. There are two Flower Record flowers out front that nobody has picked yet, perhaps because they arrived before Valentine's Day. In the front yard are a type of amaryllis (hippeastrum) new to us, picked up on impulse at Wheatsville; they are solid coral on the top petals and striated with cream on the lower petals, very showy. The first old-fashioned ornamental allium flowers have appeared. We continue to enjoy milkweed blooming in pots, both the all-yellow variety and the red-orange and yellow ones. They are very attractive to the butterflies that appear on the warmer days. One trailing nasturtium in a pot has survived in a sheltered location and is now in continuous bloom, offering strongly golden flowers striated with red-orange. Geraniums that survived the summer in pots have now revived and are in constant and profuse bloom. We enjoy our violas for color and our cyclamen for the scent as well as color. Tomorrow should bring our first example of Ice Follies. Lettuce is ornamental in pots, at least that left undisturbed by the large armadillo that visits at least once a week to root in pots and lift up parts of our only hitherto prospering portion of lawn. Leaves are beginning to come down from the live oaks; some still cling to the other oaks. Cold has visited us intermittently this winter and one effect is that the fruits of the loquats will be few but large.