From December to early April Pollen stocks the beautiful Isles of Scilly scented narcissi. Several different varieties of these delicate British grown blooms are available at any one time as the season progresses. They come in shades of pure white, through to white with delicate lemon yellow cups, to the classic canary yellow with orange cups. We just love these seasonal beauties, they herald the arrival of Spring and conjure images of crisp sunny days, blue skies dotted with plumptuous white fluffy clouds, the fresh green of the first buds bursting in the hedgerows and a cacophony of birdsong all around.

We buy our scented narcissi direct from the growers on the Isles of Scilly. The flowers are grown in the open air on around 40 family run farms dotted across the islands. They form an important part of the islands' economy and we are proud to stock them.  

There are literally thousands of different varieties of narcissi - the most commonly known one is perhaps the big yellow trumpted daffodil. The type grown on the Isles of Scilly are 'tazetta' narcissi, which carry lots of small, delicate flower heads on each stem, and are highly fragrant. We love all of the different varieties, but the ones we most commonly stock are:

Paperwhites - the classic Christmas potted narcissus. Pure white flowers. Available at the start of the season.

Soliel d'Or - the best known of the yellow flowering varities, really strong stems of bright yellow flowers with orange cups and a very strong, sweet scent. Available at the start to middle of the season.

Earlicheer - a double form with pretty frilly flowers in soft cream shades. Available from the middle to end of the season.

Avalanche/Grand Primo - white flowers with lovely pale lemon cups. Available from the start to middle of the season.

Silver Chimes - similar to Avalanche but with a slightly paler lemon cup. Available at the end of the season.

As the flowers are all grown outdoors the timings of their availability varies from year to year dependant on the weather.

How to care for your scented narcissi
Some might think that spring flowers are not long lasting, but this really isn't the case. Our Isles of Scilly narcissi are delivered freshly hand-picked by overnight courier and are delivered in bud with perhaps one or two blooms opening on each stem. As they are packed with buds we have found that they will easily last for two weeks or more with proper care, if the faded blooms are removed to make way for new buds to open on the stem.

When you get your narcissi home, if you find that the ends of the stems have dried out, you should recut them, taking around 2cm off the bottom of the stem. This allows the flower to take up water from the vase. Spring flowers drink a lot of water so you may find that you need to top up your vase. You should change the water and recut the stems at least once a week. The cooler you can keep your narcissi the longer they will last, as with all fresh cut flowers they really will not appreciate being sat over a hot radiator or fireplace!

We just love these pretty spring beauties and they will be featuring in several of our products at Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Easter. Please have a look at the seasonal collections pages in our webshop for more information.