Daffodils will bring joy to the senses and uplift the spirit every spring, no matter how planted.
But they can give increased pleasure if you take time to consider color combinations, patterns of arrangement, and periods of bloom in the fall, in addition to following the fundamentals of good planting.
My daffodils are naturalized on four acres of beautiful rolling woodland, with thin woods including many large evergreens and shade trees, plenty of rocks and natural ledges, and two trickling brooks, which have been dammed to make two ponds and several waterfalls.
Over the years, I have cut out the underbrush, removed some trees, and replanted others to gain better landscaping effects.
Each spring, my daffodil plot bursts forth in a blaze of glory, the slopes and fields covered with some 300 varieties of daffodils, which produce about 200,000 blooms.
One glance at the sweep of varied colors up along. Rolling hillsides each spring is enough to assure me that there must always be a naturalized daffodil planting there.
Any amateur gardener can start a simple planting and, over the years, develop it into a place of striking beauty.
Select a location with possibilities, one open enough to permit several hours of sunlight, with irregular land, deciduous trees, large rocks or ledges, and a stream or pond.
Retain plant materials natural to the area. Do not introduce flowering trees and shrubs foreign to your locality as background material.
I used only the materials on my plot and am happy I did so, for my place has retained its true rustic setting.
Ornamental plantings would destroy the informal, carefree effect inherent in nature.
Picture Your Planting
Once the plot has been selected, the real fun begins. Sit down and let your imagination dream about what could be done to make your plot more interesting.
How could the contour of the land be broken to give a rolling effect or to create interesting pockets?
What could be a dune to give the plot some open patches of land fully exposed to the sun?
How could you retain fairly well-shaded places to help lengthen your period of bloom, yet which would be open enough to provide several hours of daily sunshine?
How could a brook be enhanced? Could its course be changed? Is there a spring or pond nearby which could be directed through your planting?
Which small trees could be replanted for a better effect?
Could rocks be laid to form a stone wall? Could you build a jagged wood fence? When you have planned out your idea, you will enjoy even more creating the planting.
After you have planned the overall effect, you are ready to think about planting your bulbs for the most striking mass color effect.
Do not singly plant a bulb of each variety, as the color effect is lost. Only groups of daffodils of the same color will give a color pattern that makes a good show.
Planting in clumps is effective on borders and even beside trees, but the most effective pattern for a large naturalized planting, I believe. is planting in drifts of color.
The simplest way to do this is to fill a pail with bulbs, then gently strew them across the grass and plant them where they fall.
To get many interesting patterns, vary your method of strewing. so that you do not get a similarity of the pattern.
For many years I have made rough drawings of the designs of anti-patterns of individual and group cloud drifts on clear, sunny days and used these as guides in laying out my daffodil groupings.
Clouds take on various interesting shapes as they float across the sky, often resembling ragged animals, states, countries, and continents.
Masses of them often look like chains of islands strewn out over a wide expanse of ocean.
Leave Open Spaces
The bulb planting should be more concentrated in the center of a drift titan at the ends. Bulbs are usually arranged 6” to 8” inches apart in the center of the drift and 12” to 18” inches near the outside.
This spacing will result in an artistic pattern, especially if the border is irregular and occasional open spaces are left, just as one sees patches of blue sky in an actual cloud drift.
For a satisfactory mass color effect, a drift should contain at least 25 bulbs of one color. Even 100 is not too many.
In large, open fields, several hundred of the same color can be used to good advantage.
To give variation in the overall planting, alternate groupings of daffodils, say, a drift of yellow trumpets followed by a drift of white trumpets.
If the area is extensive, several drifts of the same color or variety may be planted at intervals to make colored ribbons.
If you are already enjoying the well-established varieties of daffodils listed in the table given on the next page, you might want to try a few novelties such as:
- PINK RIM
- SIAM
- PINK FANCY
- DUKE OF WINDSOR
- ST. LOUIS
These will round out your collection.
Backdrops For Daffodils
You might include several apple trees to enhance the panoramic beauty of your planting.
These should be selected during their blooming period so that some of them will be in blossom throughout the daffodil season.
I have 25 apple trees, including early-blooming Gravenstein and Red Astrachan.
My choicest tree is a crabapple 30’ feet high and 25’ feet wide. It is a solid mass of glorious blossoms when in flower, its lower branches curving down to the ground.
You also might intensify the color of your daffodils by planting clumps or drifts of numerous grape hyacinths alongside or between- them.
Use white hyacinths with yellow daffodils and blue hyacinths with white ones.
Planting And Care
Your daffodil bulbs should be planted in September or October.
There are several good planting methods:
- You could cut a triangular hole with a spade or grub ax, make a deep hole 3” to 4” inches wide with a crowbar, or dig a hole with a special bulb planter.
- Put a generous amount of compost, 2/3 loam, 1/3 leaf mold or peat, and a good sprinkling of bonemeal in the bottom of the hole.
- Be sure the bulb’s base is embedded in the compost and that the top of the bulb is covered by 4 inches of loam.
- Avoid planting daffodils in low, wet places, or they will be subject to basal rot.
- Likewise, avoid planting daffodils on a high. The dry knoll where they would not receive sufficient moisture in June, the period during which the bulbs are rebuilding themselves. Large ledges seem to retain enough moisture.
- Do not cut the grass in a naturalized daffodil planting until mid-July or until daffodil foliage has fully ripened.
If the grass remains uncut and is permitted to decay, you will not need fertilizer. I have known plantings to thrive for 50 years.
44659 by John L. Russel