Sawdust, I have discovered, is an excellent mulch for daffodils. Its greatest advantage is its almost total suppression of weeds. This has allowed me to grow a collection of 135 varieties with very little care. Anyone who has ever hoed and weeded a planting of several hundred daffodil bulbs can appreciate the elimination of this … Read more
A gardener’s adventure with spring bulbs begins with fall’s sharp, apple-scented days, for the tulips, daffodils, crocuses, and hyacinths that flower in the spring must start as bulbs—to be planted now and during the next few weeks. Gottscho-Schleisncr’s fall and spring photographs remind us that many good gardening days are ahead. (The best gardeners pick … Read more
Tazettas, Rugulosus, Butter and Eggs, Pheasant’s Eye, Hoop Petticoat, and little Sweet Jonquil (Narcissus jonquilla simplex) grow in all old southern gardens along with Snowflakes. These I have always known and loved. Indeed, just as one carries a bloom of Michelia fuscata in the pocket or the hand and places small bundles of Vetiveria or … Read more
In many countries, daffodils are apt to bloom when pleasant days are few and disappointments are few. This is usually due to the weather, which is highly variable and changeable to a great extent. Nonetheless, daffodils are increasing in popularity because they grow so easily and are colorful at a time when they are most … Read more
The title I’ve chosen is not merely figuratively true. The daffodils are growing up. They are getting taller and bolder, more sophisticated, and prettier. The ungraceful creatures of the first decade of our century made room for RED BEACON and RED CHIEF. They, in turn, made room, in the next decade, for daffodils of the … Read more
Daffodil breeders in England, Ireland, Holland, and America constantly strive to develop new and better varieties of the loveliest spring flowers. If the numerous daffodil shows held throughout the country and the extensive plantings that are being made in public and private gardens are any criterion, the enthusiasm for daffodils is growing by leaps and … Read more
Among the spring-flowering bulbs, daffodils continue to be popular with homeowners. With hybridizers constantly at work, new daffodil varieties are constantly being added to an already long list. Fortunately, many of these modern kinds, noted for their good substance, good balance, superior texture, sunproof ability, and vigorous habit, may be purchased at moderate prices by … Read more
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 … Read more
Supposing you are planting daffodil bulbs for the first time this fall. If you are living in a new home, you may not yet have decided where your gardens will be located. Chances are that the front of your house has been landscaped and that other shrub groupings are in, or at least soon will … Read more
A fascinating, thrilling form of gardening is naturalizing daffodils in grassland or a thin woodland of deciduous trees. If you have a suitable location, try it, and see for yourself! The selection of a suitable site is the first thing you must consider; after that, the selection of suitable varieties. The site may be small … Read more