Daffodil Spring

  I really should not complain about the weather here in New England when tornadoes are hitting St. Louis and Texas is drying up and blowing away, but the last few weeks of colder than usual spring temperatures have been a bit annoying, especially following a long snowy winter.  But a remark from my brother-in -law Jon made me realize that there has been at least one good thing about the cool spring.

'Wow, your daffodils are amazing' he said several times as he toured the yard last week.  I looked around and realized that the early flowers were still blooming as the late ones began.  All around the garden my many clumps of daffodils were blooming so heavily I could  hardly see the foliage.  Not only had the cool weather prolonged the blooms, there had also been no pounding rainstorms to crush the fragile blossoms. I cut several bouquets for the house and felt a lot less annoyed.

   We bought our house twenty years ago this September.  The realtor told us the elderly owner had once been an avid gardener.  I thought a lot during the winter about what might sprout in the overgrown beds out back.  There weren't many perennials that survived, but there were daffodils-- hundreds of them, in many shapes, colors and scents. I studied bulb catalogs until I could recognize many -- big yellow 'King Alfred', bicolor 'Ice Follies', delicate little lemon species, intensely fragrant 'Double Cheerfulness', and more.  Many clumps were thick with spiky green leaves, but had only a few flowers. I knew they were crowded and needed dividing to reinvigorate them.

  I made a diagram of the locations of each clump, then let the foliage ripen until it died ( I did not cut it...  that would weaken the bulbs).  In September I began digging up the clumps. I put the biggest bulbs back into new planting holes with some fertilizer, planting them each about twice as deep as the height of the upright bulb-- pointed end up! I threw the rotted bulbs and the small ones over the fence into the briar patch.  Now there are some nice clumps back there for the rabbits to sniff.

 Did I mention that daffodils taste terrible? Apparently they do, since my healthy rabbit, woodchuck and vole population never even nibble them. Crocuses and tulips get eaten in my garden, usually just as the flowers are about to open, but the daffodils thrive.

  Over the years I've  planted even more daffodils,  both subtle and brazen. I love the delicate white  bells of fragrant 'Thalia', but I've also got a soft spot for the more garish doubles-- they make me smile at their silliness.

 My daffodils increase every year because I do three things for them. I fertilize them early every spring, often while snow is still on the ground.  I  also always let the foliage ripen and dry, even though  it makes my June garden untidy.  Finally, I  now and then mark and later dig up and divide overgrown clumps.  It's not much work for the show in my backyard every spring, especially when we have a 'daffodil spring' like this year.