Sign of the Times

Daffodils!  Nothing eases the winter-weary mind or snow ravaged landscape quite like them!  I love them for more reasons than I can detail here, but, mainly, I admire their ability to usher in spring--their mere presence gracing the landscape in a way that is both whimsical and practical (as they do in the picture, below).

First, the practical: they come in more than 40 varieties!  Their shades range from white and palest ecru to all manner of yellows--honeyed hues that balance the forsythia tones (in photo) to lemon and butterscotch.  In fact, one can even scout out orange and pink daffodils.  Some daffs are two-toned, with the trumpet-shaped center coronas differing in hue from petals.  A good example of this: 'Petit Four,' only 16 inches tall,  a good choice for a partially shady site. This flower has white petals with a double trumpet of apricot pink.   Check out these and dozens more varieties at your local nursery.

Daffodil colors are long lasting! Because these beauties produce a toxin that is poisonous to any critter foraging for food, they NEVER get eaten. (In fact, the sap located in the flower stems can irritate skin, so wear gloves when clipping, and never combine daffodils with other plants in a vase because the sap will wilt the other flowers).   Gotta love evolution.  Sadly, tulip biology has not developed to this state, and they are always the #1 item on any deer and rabbit salad bar. 

And now, the whimsical:   It starts with the name, really.  The ancients called them "Narcissus," for the young man, renowned for his beauty, who became entranced by his own looks when he saw his reflection in a pond.  Found in nature on the nearby banks of rivers, these "giving" plants are far from fixated with themselves.  They emerge from the near-frozen ground and offer brilliant bloom to the dull landscape all around them.

Then there is the silly term Ben Weatherstaff uses in The Secret Garden: "Daffydowndillys."  To me, it's a name that's just a bit too fanciful, and downplays the importance of these harbingers of spring.  After all, as these flowers blossom, so do our thoughts--blooming with all the possibilities a new season brings!

A few tips to keep your daffodils coming back beautifully every spring:
 1.  Plant bulbs in the fall (2-4 weeks before the ground freezes) in average, well-drained  soil (bulbs rot in areas where water lingers).  Plant at least three inches deep.
 2.  Plant anywhere you like, but remember, a grassy knoll strewn with hundreds of narcissus looks amazing in spring--and overgrown in summer!  Because the plant foliage provides much-needed nutrients to bulbs for maximum blooming next season, it should never be cut, so, therefore, grass around it can't be cut either!  I prefer to plant my daffs in a flower bed amid emerging summer perennials.  As the foliage of nearby poppy, iris and coneflower emerge, I simply tuck wilting narcissus greens underneath them.
3.  Compost the entire daffodil bed each fall, to provide plants much-needed nutrients and protection during the offseason.  I spread a liberal layer of leaf compost over my bulbs each October.

Have questions about this post or any other?  Or maybe there's some other "green garden" issue you'd like to explore.  Comment below and I'll try to address specific questions.  If I don't know the answer, I'll find out--and we'll learn together!