I love early spring flowers, especially Daffodils.   Daffodils make early gardens cheery and bright. The first showing of daffodils in the spring gives me assurance that warm weather is just around the corner. Yea!

So why are there no daffodils popping up in my yard?  Maybe it’s because because I forget to plant them in the fall.   Actually,  daffodils  don’t enter my mind until I see them popping up in my neighbors yard… and she has a bunch of them.  Looking at her yard reminds me,  “Oh Oh… I forgot to plant my daffodils.”

The truth is…daffodils use to grace my garden, until  every bit of top soil had to be removed  from my flower beds because it tested salty and was killing all my shrubs and plants.  (That’s a whole other story.)   So, the daffodil bulbs went the way of the dump.   But,  I really do know about growing daffodils… I just have to remember to get in them the ground.

• Choose a well-drained, sunny place, with slightly acidic soil.
• Plant your Daffodils so that their top (pointed end) is at least two times as deep as the bulb is high (top of a 2″ bulb is 4″ deep).
• Plant bulbs deeper in sandy soil than in clay.
• High-nitrogen fertilizer should be avoided.
• Daffodils need lots of water while they are growing.

Growing daffodils is fun… and there are so many varieties.  There are many  different shades and sizes of yellow daffodils to choose from. They’re sturdy little things and will last in the garden for about three to four weeks before the blooms are completely withered.

Once the bloom is gone, however… there is a temptation is to cut down the leafs and stocks in preparation for planting your summer flowers. Don’t be too hasty. The green foliage needs to die and turn yellow before it’s trimmed to the ground.

By permitting the daffodil foliage to turn yellow on it’s own, it allows the bulb to regenerate its own food source for the next year. If the foliage is cut too prematurely, the blooms will be limited next year. The stocks and leaves  should be ready for cutting by the end of May into the first of June.

So… hide the shears until June. If you’re really anxious to plant those summer annuals, just nudge them up close to the daffodil foliage until you can cut it back.

Till Later

Kathryn Griffiths
Insightful Nana

P.S. The same foliage rule applies to tulips and other bulbs.
P.P.S. Oh… I thought of another excuse why I don’t grow daffodils in my yard…. My mom didn’t have daffodils in her garden.    We knew Spring was approaching when Mom brought daffodils home from the grocery store and put them in a vase.