Narcissus Paperwhite
Ziva
“Christmas's living perfume. A bowl of paperwhites on the kitchen table costs almost nothing and fills the darkest month with a scent you'll either love or argue about. I love it.”
— ROSIE
Rosie's Take
Paperwhites are the only flower I grow specifically for Christmas, and the ritual of planting them is as much a part of the season as the tree. In late October, I nestle the fat bulbs into a shallow bowl of gravel, water them, and wait. Within a few weeks the pale shoots appear, then the flower stems emerge, and by December the kitchen smells of something complicated and wonderful.
The scent of paperwhites is divisive — properly, passionately divisive. Some people find it intoxicating: a heady, narcotic sweetness with a musky, almost animalic depth. Others find it overwhelming, even unpleasant. I'm firmly in the first camp. That scent, filling a warm room on a dark December evening, with candles lit and the curtains drawn — it's the smell of winter luxury. Rich, dense, and utterly unlike any other narcissus.
'Ziva' is the variety I grow because the flowers are pure white with a clean, starry shape, and it's the most reliable forcer. The stems grow tall and often need a bit of support — a few twigs pushed into the gravel, or a length of garden twine around the whole cluster. The slight precariousness is part of the charm. They're not a polished, designed thing. They're a living thing doing its best in a bowl of stones.
A bowl of paperwhites on the kitchen table costs almost nothing — a few bulbs, some gravel, a dish you already own — and it gives you three weeks of flowers and fragrance in the darkest month. That's the kind of luxury I believe in. Small, seasonal, living, and smelling like something you can't buy in a bottle.
Where to Buy
If you want to try narcissus paperwhite for yourself, here's where I'd point you:
“The Blossomist sell beautiful forced paperwhite arrangements in winter — they arrive ready to bloom and make an effortless Christmas gift that isn't another candle.”
Order This Flower →“Bloom & Wild do a lovely paperwhite bulb kit — bowl, gravel, bulbs, everything. I've sent it as a gift and the recipient had flowers by Christmas.”
Order This Flower →✿ From the folklore cabinet
Paperwhites are tazetta narcissi, native to the Mediterranean, and they've been cultivated since ancient times — the Romans grew them in gardens and the bulbs have been found in Egyptian tombs. The name 'narcissus' comes from the Greek myth of the beautiful youth who fell in love with his own reflection. The scent is due to an unusually high concentration of indole, a compound that in small amounts smells floral and in large amounts smells distinctly organic — which is why some people find it heavenly and others find it too much. Your nose decides. Mine decided years ago.
