Landscaping with Bulbs--TOW
Hamish Sloan (Sat, 15 Nov 2003 11:06:53 PST)

Hello All,

Some time back Jim S wrote about his naturalizing daffs:

They look very nice when in bloom, and we do not cut the grass and weeds in
those areas until the foliage has started to yellow off.

I don't see much increase in the bulbs so far. I assume this is due to
inadequate fertilizer and excessive competition from grass.

I've found it only necessary here to leave the daffs for six weeks after
the flowers first fade before cutting down the foliage. Six weeks worth of
development seems to be enough for the following years flower crop to form.
I have certainly found that a good dose of general fertilizer scattered
over the whole area of the naturalization to be well worth while in terms
of the next years flower crop. I use an ordinary general fertilizer during
this recovery period, if I remember, I give a second or even a third dose
at two week intervals but do water in if you are going to give more than
one dose. We have a commonly available one here called Growmore originally
developed for veggie growing in WW2! (I use this for the lawns generally
rather than pay through the nose for the specialist products.) One reason
for a lower crop of flowers in the second year is that newly planted areas
seem to split the bulbs or form many offsets as a reaction to the trauma of
the transplanting. They are often dug too soon by the growers in any case,
possibly not even my suggested six week recovery period allowed, so that
the bulb has not had time to form the next flower bud or one that is there
aborts because of this mis-treatment. That other amaryllid, nerine, is like
this in its reaction.

Once established, naturalized daffodils do not seem to be affected by
competition from the grasses. Their roots go deeper. An old planting may
seem to regress due to overcrowding. Any of my larger clumps appear to
flower better round the edges of the clump, so I lift groups here and there
every several years (NO, I don't count the years! time flies away fast
enough as it is.) and replant immediately in the very early Autumn.
Daffodils do like a long settling period to get well established before the
Spring.

Regards Hamish
Wettish zone 9 - and very wet now -
in the central south UK
(Please put where you are - it tells a lot about your growing conditions)