It's got to be a hard-hearted, cold and ruthless person who doesn't just instantly cheer up and smile when they see a mass of daffodils in bloom! And when you're looking for real bang for your buck when planting bulbs, you can never go wrong by buying as many daffodils as you can and are willing to go to the effort to plant. Like any of the larger spring bulbs, Daffodils need to be planted relatively deep (about 6"- 8"), so the initial planting can be a chore. But the rewards are so ample and brilliantly hued that it's all ultimately worth the effort. I'd personally recommend buying the naturalizing plain yellow varieties because they will colonize over time ... those fancier, mutant-y hybrid varieties don't bloom true for many years and eventually just revert to a strange, vulgate form of Narcissus that's really not the most attractive to have in the garden. Just our own personal flower snobbery in this regard, but if you want the true, old-fashioned forms, it's best to go with the simplest yellow, naturalizing variety you can find.
And as a side note to those who have deer problems in the garden ... Daffodils are widely known to be a deer repellant plant (one among many we seem to have instinctively planted in our garden), so they fulfill another useful garden function as well. I'm not sure what other critters they may repel, but since we have many daffodils planted among the tulips, I wonder if they also have rabbit chasing properties as well... so many here tell me that the rabbits devour their tulips in spring, yet ours remain untouched ... I may have to do some more research on that, but for now, enjoy these happy yellow faces while they last!
3 comments:
Those are gorgeous! Love the ruffled cups ... where's kansas ... look at all the cups for lemon curd ... :-)
I'm going to link to this over at the my b today so that everyone can come and see spring in action ... :)
That's interesting about the repellent properties of daffs ... a quick google found this: ANIMAL REPELLENTS DERIVED FROM PLANT SPECIES, which states:
In a population of daffodils, tulips, crocus and iris, deer and rabbits will selectively eat the tulips and crocus.
Here's my question then ... the crocus here bloom so much earlier than the daffs ... that by the time the daffs have poked through the ground, the plump menace has already decimated the crocus ... Do you think the daff bulbs themselves act as a repellent? I know I don't have too many daffs back there -- mostly crocus and tulips.
Hello IVG. What a beautiful yard you have! Once spring comes to your neck of the woods, it must really set the ground a-rocking! I looked at the last several posts you had and they are equally wonderful. Not sure how I missed those.
Thanks for sharing your local beauty with us.
When you mention "fancier, mutant-y hybrid varieties," is this what you have in mind?
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