Daffodils-Plant Now and Wait for Spring
By Elizabeth H. Adlung, Master Gardener Volunteer
Another long, cold Northeast PA winter is just ahead of us, but we still have a few weeks to enjoy cool, sunny weather and spectacular fall colors. This is a great time to enjoy being outside and to plant Spring bulbs — especially daffodils.
After a cold, snowy winter, the bright green spiky leaves poking through the snow are a truly welcome sight. Then we know winter is on the wane and the brilliant display of the daffodils will soon brighten the bare gray landscape.
Few garden plants give as much pleasure with as little effort as daffodils. They are one of the most vigorous and colorful flowers of spring. With all their charm and beauty, they are also truly deer and rodent-proof. The bulbs, leaves, and flowers all contain a poison that these creatures know to avoid.
With good drainage, they thrive in most soils, even in the rocky clay we have in most parts of Northeast PA. They prefer a medium-heavy loam, but most daffodil cultivars do very well here.
Daffodils On Apple Drive
The folks along a little street called Apple Drive in one of the many communities around Milford are a neighborly bunch, and they love their daffodils. For them, planting daffodils and other flowers is an immediate opportunity for sharing bulbs, plants, and mulch, offering lots of gardening opinions and advice, catching up on the news, and just being friendly.
“They are like little headlights when we drive in on Friday night,” says Don McSherry, a weekend resident of Apple Drive. Don planted a bag of fifty bulbs in the woods around his house thirty-five years ago. Over the years he has given away hundreds of bulbs that multiplied from those first fifty. He reports they are still “going strong” and need to be divided again.
The ground is typical of most areas around Milford-plenty of rocks and clay, lots of deer and rodents that like to eat almost everything that grows. New neighbors just moved from urban areas and eager to start gardening are sometimes shocked by the challenges. Growing daffodils is a rewarding way to begin.
“We got advice from the Pike County Master Gardeners so we have a plan for our daffodils,” Eileen Blair, an Apple Drive neighbor explains. “Since digging a hole in this rocky ground is so much work, we are going to dig only about six inches deep, then we’ll put in two inches of good rich soil with compost – we’ll put the bulbs on top of that layer so that the roots have a nice soil to grow into. For the next layer, we will mix the sandy clay that came out of the hole with good soil and put that on top of the bulbs. Then we’ll finish up with a nice mulch of ground up leaves and wood chips. We will mound up this layer so that the bulbs are covered by six to eight inches.”
Her son, Theodore, continues, “We’ll take the rocks that came out of the ground and make a border around the daffodil bed. Then we wait for spring!”
How to Plant
Daffodils are among the most forgiving and easiest flowers to grow for beginning and experienced gardeners. However, they do need some planning and effort for the first planting:
Good Drainage - The most important factor, especially in Northeast PA, is good drainage. If you select a site where water or melting snow lingers more than two or three weeks, they will not survive.
Decent (Not Great) Soil – In our exceptionally heavy, rocky soil, the roots sprouting from the new bulbs need organic matter like well-rotted manure, compost, or peat moss worked into the soil. A two to four inch layer of organic matter under the bulbs loosens the soil and provides nutrients.
Sunlight – A half-day of sun is required for most types. However, they will grow in the shade of deciduous trees because the daffodils usually finish flowering by May and the leaves have begun to mature by the time deciduous trees leaf out.
Fertilizer – Many vendors package up various convenient (and expensive) kinds of bulb food. However, daffodils thrive for decades on neglect alone! Occasionally, clumps of daffodils may be the only sign left of abandoned farmhouses and their occupants.
Daffodil, Narcissus, or Jonquil?
Confusingly, all three names are given to our beloved flowers.
David Trinklein, Associate Professor of Horticulture at University of Missouri explains: “Much confusion has existed over the proper name for these plants. Actually, both daffodil and narcissus are correct. Narcissus is the generic botanical name given these plants in 1753. In England, however, the plants commonly were known as daffodils. This term was carried to other countries by English-speaking people. Jonquil refers to a specific kind of narcissus and is not correct for the group in general. True jonquils have a reed-like leaf and sweet-smelling flowers. Narcissus, then, is the correct botanical name for the genus; daffodil is the correct common name for all members of the genus; and jonquil correctly refers to one particular division of the genus.”
Daffodil Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The website of the American Daffodil Society (ADS) provides an abundance of detailed information. Be sure to visit www.daffodilusa.org. The following is a list of some of the questions they commonly are asked.
How many kinds of daffodils are there?
Botanists differ, but there are at least twenty-five species, some with a great many different forms, and several natural hybrids. In addition to the species, the current printout of the Daffodil Data Bank lists over 13,000 hybrids, which are divided among the twelve divisions of the official classification.
Will squirrels and other rodents eat daffodil bulbs?
No. The bulbs and leaves contain poisonous crystals that only certain insects can eat with impunity. They may, however, dig up the bulbs.
How long do daffodil bulbs last?
Under good growing conditions, they should outlast any of us. While some kinds of bulbs tend to dwindle and die out, daffodils should increase.
How long is the flowering season of daffodils?
From six weeks to six months, depending on where you live and the cultivars you grow.
What are miniature daffodils?
Daffodils come in all sizes from 5-inch blooms on 2-foot stems to half-inch flowers on 2-inch stems. Largely for show purposes, but also for guidance in gardening, certain species and named cultivars have been determined by the ADS to be miniatures and must compete by themselves in daffodil shows. Current lists of miniatures are published in the Daffodil Journal or may be obtained separately from the ADS.
Are daffodils difficult to grow?
No. They are probably the easiest and most dependable of all the families of flowers and ideal for a beginner in gardening in most regions of the United States.
Web Links for Narcissus and Daffodil Information
The Internet gives you a wealth of information about every aspect of this flower-cultivation, history and legends, botany, medicinal properties-and nearly every website links to another trove of information. Here are some, but certainly not all, of the good ones:
www.daffodilusa.org American Daffodil Society (ADS). This site describes divisions and cultivars of the Narcissus species and links to numerous bulb merchants and growers. There are also helpful tips on buying daffodil bulbs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page. Go to the main portal of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and enter “narcissus” or “daffodil.”
Check out www.botanical.com — “A Modern Herbal” – to find out about medicinal and poisonous plants including Narcissus. Note that the site warns, “A Modern Herbal” was written with the conventional wisdom of the early 1900′s. This should be taken into account as some of the information may now be considered inaccurate, or not in accordance with modern medicine.
In her website www.paghat.com, a Pacific Northwest gardener presents essays for hundreds of species growing in her garden, with personal notes, history, cultural information, and photos. Her favorites are the miniature daffodils, which she describes and photographs in loving detail.
Pike Counter Master Gardeners are available every Tuesday from 10 a.m. until noon to answer general gardening questions, by phone, 570-296-3400, or in person at the Penn State Extension Office, 514 Broad Street, Milford.
“Yellow yellow daffodil dancing in the sun.
Oh yellow yellow daffodil, you tell me spring has come.
I can hear a blue bird sing, & hear a robin call.
But yellow yellow daffodil I love you most of all.”
–Daffodil Song, Author Unknown
© Copyright 2010 Connections Magazine
