Four Southern Classics, One Planting
We put this mix together for gardeners who love our heirloom bulbs but have a hard time choosing just one. The Heirloom Bulb Mix brings together four proven Southern performers — the Jonquil, the Campernelle, Snowflakes, and 'Golden Dawn' — bulbs that have graced old homesites, fence lines, and country roadsides across the South for generations, blooming reliably each year with little to no care.
A mix is one of the best ways to "try out" bulbs that are new to you. Instead of committing a whole bed to a single variety, you get to watch four different bloomers perform in your own soil and light, and discover which ones you want more of next year. Each of these varieties blooms at a slightly different time, so rather than one big show that comes and goes in a week or two, the mix hands the stage from one bloomer to the next — jonquils open the show in late February, campernelles follow close behind, snowflakes carry it into March, and 'Golden Dawn' finishes strong in mid-March and into April.
Landscaping with a mix has its own rewards. The varied heights, bloom shapes, and shades — deep gold, rich yellow, and bell-shaped white — give a planting the natural, layered look of an old Southern garden that has been quietly multiplying for decades, rather than the uniform blocks of color of a formal bed. Dot them through perennial borders, scatter them along a fence line, or plant them in drifts and let them naturalize into a scene that gets better every year.
A quick word about zones. All four varieties are happiest in Zones 7–8, and each has its own comfortable range (you'll find them in the table below). But zone maps only tell part of the story — every yard has its own microclimates, and a warm bed against the house or a sunny protected corner will often grow what the map says you can't. That's another quiet advantage of a mix: if you're a little outside a variety's listed range, you can try all four for the price of one experiment and let your garden tell you which ones belong. And the Snowflakes anchor the whole planting — thriving from Zone 6 all the way to Zone 10, in sun or shade, clay or sand, they're the bulb we recommend when folks aren't sure they can grow bulbs at all. Wherever you garden, some of this mix is going to shine, and next spring you'll know exactly which ones to order more of.
How They Compare
| Variety | Blooms | Bloom Time | Height | Growing Zones | Fragrance |
|
Jonquil Narcissus jonquilla |
Petite, deep golden-yellow blooms in clusters of several per stem | Late February | 8–12" | 6–8 | Intensely sweet, honey-like — the most fragrant of the mix |
|
Campernelle Narcissus x odorus |
Larger, rich dark-yellow trumpet-shaped blooms — the "Giant Jonquil" | Late February – early March | 10–14" | 6–8b (blooms in 9a) | Sweet jonquil fragrance |
|
Snowflakes Leucojum aestivum |
White, dime-sized bells — six petals, each tipped with a tiny green dot | Late February into March | About 12" | 6–10 | Light, sweet fragrance |
|
'Golden Dawn' Narcissus tazetta |
Sunshine-yellow petals around a pale orange/gold cup, multiple blooms per stem | Mid-March into April | 12–16" | 7–9 | Light, sweet fragrance |
All four multiply quickly, are perennial across most of the South, and are resistant to deer and most critters. Snowflakes are the most adaptable of the group — sun or shade, clay to moist sand, zones 6–10 — and even earned the Texas Superstar® designation from Texas A&M AgriLife.
The Difference in the Blooms
Jonquil — the fragrant one
Small, round, deep golden-yellow blooms with delicate clusters on each stem, and an intoxicating sweet fragrance often compared to honey (some say bubblegum!). The petite blooms make up in number and scent what they lack in size.
Campernelle — the giant jonquil
A natural cross between the jonquil and the Lent lily, the campernelle takes its fragrance from one parent and its larger trumpet blooms from the other. Clusters of rich dark-yellow trumpets look like a vein of gold running through the winter landscape.
See the difference: the campernelle bloom on the left, with two petite jonquil blooms on the right that together don't quite equal its size.
Snowflakes — the white bells
The change of pace in the mix: nodding white bells about the size of a dime, each of the six petals tipped with a tiny green spot, floating over sturdy bluish-green foliage. This is the bulb we suggest when people tell us they can't grow bulbs — it thrives in sun or shade, clay or sand.
'Golden Dawn' — the grand finale
The latest bloomer of the four, with sunshine-yellow petals surrounding a pale orange-gold cup and multiple blooms per stalk. It picks up just as the earlier heirlooms fade and carries the show into April — and around here, when the 'Golden Dawn' bloom, the bass are spawning.
Planting Instructions
Plant with a few inches of soil over the bulbs, or if transplanting the flowers with foliage still on them, plant with the bulbs a few inches below the soil and the leaves above the ground. Just make sure they receive plenty of winter sun each winter growing season.
