If someone told you that you could garden without getting your hands dirty, with no weed pulling, watering, fertilizing, or cultivating, you would probably say, “Tell me more about it.” Instead, the seemingly magic process is naturalizing daffodils.
In broad general terms, naturalizing means that plants—in this case, daffodils—are grown the way they would be found in the wild without cultivation or other care by man.
Naturalizing daffodils is fun, inexpensive, and easy, and the results are extremely rewarding.
Where Can Daffodils Be Naturalized?
For an informal effect, plant them in the grass or woodland. If you have a large area, plant them in large groups or drifts.
John L. Russell of Dedham, Massachusetts, has a 4-acre tract of grass and woodland naturalized with 250,000 daffodils of over 500 varieties.
His planting is one of the largest in the country and is the result of a hobby that started thirty-five years ago. He began with a few hundred bulbs and added them to his planting each year.
Today, he has a magnificent showplace that each spring attracts thousands of visitors from all over New England during the last week in April and the first week in May.
But you don’t need this much land. So many people have planted daffodils in naturalized clumps around homes with only half an acre or less.
You can plant them under an apple tree, along a wall behind your house, or in an un-mowed corner of your lawn.
How To Obtain Naturalistic Effect?
First, you need some bulbs, which can be ordered now for planting in September and October. Many reliable firms sell specially selected varieties in a mixture for naturalizing.
The cost of these bulbs in large quantities is generally considerably less than when buying individual varieties.
Remember that good quality bulbs are sound economy —shriveled and dried bulbs result in disappointment.
Second, you need a tool to plant bulbs with a minimum of effort.
You have a choice of three tools:
- A spade
- Crowbar
- Special bulb planter
Some gardeners even use a grub hoe, but this makes the work hard.
Spade
If you use a spade, make a triangular cut in the sod, lift the sod as you would open a bulkhead door, and tuck the bulbs into the soil about 6” inches deep and 6” inches apart.
Step down on the sod, and you have naturalized your first daffodil.
Crowbar
Perhaps you prefer a crowbar. This tool serves especially well in terrain that is rough, rocky, or full of roots.
Plunge the crowbar into the ground, and wiggle it back and forth until you have made a hole deep enough to receive the bulb; drop the bulb in and add a little loam to fill the hole. Simple, isn’t it?
A special bulb-planting tool can be used to cut a cylindrical piece of sod and earth from the ground. Then, drop the bulb in the hole and return the cylinder just removed.
Planting Daffodils
Plant daffodils in groups or clumps of a dozen or more bulbs, always leaving grass between the clumps.
Some people use the clouds overhead as a pattern guide; others just strew the bulbs on the ground and plant them where they fall.
There are only two locations where daffodils do not thrive. One is a high dry knoll; the other a wet, soggy spot.
However, just because a location is high is no indication that daffodils will not grow there, as many high areas have sufficient moisture for good growth.
What Care Do Naturalized Daffodils Require?
There are no weeds to be pulled since the bulbs thrive and multiply rapidly in sod. Therefore, they require no fertilizer, although some gardeners do like to apply a little top-dressing of bone meal or a specially formulated bulb fertilizer every two or three years.
No watering is required, and you needn’t even get your hands in the soil when planting. You can naturalize daffodils in your Sunday go-to-meeting suit.
You can cut flowers to your heart’s content but leave the foliage behind. This provides nutrition for the ripening bulbs so that a good crop of flowers will follow next spring.
Enjoy adding to your planting each year. Soon the neighbors will be making annual pilgrimages to your garden.
Thousands of people come out each year to Dedham, Massachusetts, to see Mr. Russell’s 4 acres of daffodils.
44659 by John L. Russell, Jr.