The Master Gardener : Daffodils simply brighten the yard
Brrr. It’s getting chilly outside. What’s a gardener to do on these cool, fall days besides watch that pesky squirrel dig up another tulip? Given the disease and pest problems of the last few months, I say plant more sustainable, trouble-free flowers like daffodils.
Yes, I know they are widely considered the ubiquitous yellow- spring - flower, but with a little searching there are thousands of cultivars in all sizes, shapes and colors. For you avant-garde gardeners there are fancy, colored and shaped hybrids in many sizes. For antique lovers heirloom varieties abound. Fragrant varieties keep appearing, new cultivars show up regularly and antique selections continue to be “rediscovered.” There is a daffodil, jonquil or narcissus (all cousins) for every taste. Selection and variety aside their real appeal lies in their virtually, trouble-free culture.
Rodent-proof, deer-proof and mostly disease-proof, daffodil family members are shunned by the same hungry critters that decimated your tulips and other bulbs last spring; it seems nobody likes their taste. And that fact alone makes them a valuable ally in the critter wars. Surround and or intermix your bulb plantings with daffodils and – bingo – no more missing bulbs or gnawed to the ground foliage. Caring for daffodils couldn’t be simpler.
They are happy in most soils and light situations. The only time you really have to water is at planting time (if it’s a dry fall). Plant according to the package directions: usually 4-6 inches deep and apart. You don’t have to bother with mulching or coddling of any sort. Throw in a little bone meal or bulb fertilizer at the same time and cozy up to your favorite chair for the winter and wait for the spring show. If your daffodils pop up and a cold snap hits, don’t worry. The foliage tips or flower buds might look a little “fried,” but they will recover. The only must-do, culturally speaking, is to do nothing.
In early summer the foliage will begin to yellow. Just let it be until it is completely brown and dried and then remove it. Next year’s blooms will be fed by the slowly dying foliage, so it’s crucial to leave it attached as long as possible. Camouflage the foliage by placing a perennial or annual in front. That’s it for the rest of the year. Daffodils are very long-lived and over time the bulb clumps will expand.
When they begin to overcrowd their space you can easily divide them after the foliage has died back. Simply dig them up, pull them apart and replant them into other areas. If you have any excess give some bulbs to your friends and neighbors, especially the guy next door whose tulip patch now has double trouble from visiting squirrel.