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Naturalizing Daffodils

by Liz Druitt
Southern Living Magazine

Sunny symbols of spring, these flowers are pest free, low maintenance, and easy to establish in your garden or landscape.

We can't help being partial to daffodils," explains Brent Heath. "Yellow is a wonderful color, and daffodils put up these big yellow flowers to attract early spring pollinators, so they grab our attention and win our admiration at the same time." Brent would know. His family has been growing daffodils in Gloucester, Virginia, for more than 100 years. The fields of yellow, brilliant now in early spring, are part of Brent's heritage as well as the backbone of Brent and Becky's Bulbs, the business he runs with his wife.

Daffodils are among the easiest plants to grow. "You don't have to do anything if you just want a one-time spring display," says Brent. "Bulbs, daffodils in particular, are pretty resilient and typically adapt to whatever situation you give them." For your daffodils to come back year after year, however, Brent has a few suggestions that will increase your success.

First, be sure of the sunlight. Choose a site that gets at least six hours of sunlight after the leaves are on the trees. It can be morning, afternoon, or constant dappled light, but the daffodils must have light for their leaves. Otherwise they can't replenish the nutrients in their bulbs for the next blooming season.

Secondly, plant so your bulbs have water during their growing season and good drainage all the time. Brent points out that most of the South has less than ideal soil for bulbs, which need to stay especially well drained during the summer so they don't rot. Daffodils would prefer sandy loam, but Southern gardeners are more likely to be wrestling with thick, sticky clay.

The easiest way to deal with heavy soil, Brent says, is to build your beds on top of it. "Improve just the top layer of soil by turning or tilling in well-composted organic material. Plant the bulbs shallowly; then add several inches clay, or even coarse builder's sand, on top. Bulbs grow up through the clay or sand just fine, put out their roots in good soil, and get all the drainage benefits of a raised bed."

The third requirement for happy daffodils is to fertilize your bulbs every fall with a time-release organic or encapsulated product (such as Holland Bulb Booster or Brent and Becky's Daffodil Fertilizer), broadcasting it over the bulb beds according to instructions on the bag. "The ideal fertilizer for daffodils would have an N-P-K balance of 10-10-20," Brent says. "We recommend feeding in the fall when roots begin to form, but it's actually never too late to make a difference unless you wait until after they bloom. In early spring, you can't count on the nutrients leaching down to the roots quickly enough, so if you wait till then, use a fast, water-soluble fertilizer."

If you follow Brent's advice, you not only get beautiful drifts of daffodils every spring, but you also get a much better looking landscape after the burst of bloom is over. "You're left with nice, healthy foliage that normally stands upright and remains green as long as it's still actively supporting the bulbs underneath through photosynthesis," says Brent. He goes on to add that it's only if there's a shortage of three critical elements-- sunlight, moisture, or nutrients-that the foliage weakens, flops over, and becomes unattractive. "Then gardeners want to tie it in knots, braid it, or fold it over and pin it to the ground, all of which suffocate the leaves and starve the bulbs."

After the foliage begins to turn yellow, you can cut, mow, or cover it with mulch if it isn't neatly hidden by companion perennials growing around the daffodils. That's also the time to dig, divide, and transplant bulbs. Until then, leave your daffodils alone. They need to gather all the sunlight they can, blending it with moisture and nutrients to make starches and sugars, stored in their bulbs for next year's joyful yellow blooms.

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Mar 2001