Hello yellow!
The bright nodding heads of daffodils are a sign that spring’s on the way – but you can enjoy them even earlier, says Monty Don
MY columns are timed so that they bloom on these pages at the same moment as their subjects do in your garden. This plan is doomed to failure, of course, through the combination of lead times, fickle weather and the big variations of flowering times from one end of the country to the other. Nevertheless, the arrival of the daffodils in my garden has the same seasonal effect whatever the actual date. It means spring is on its way, and whatever the weather may bring over the coming weeks – and we all know that snow, frost, wind and rain are perfectly possible anywhere and very probably for most of us – nothing can stop it.
Climate change means this is earlier than it used to be, even though there is no evolutionary advantage in flowering before there are any pollinating insects about. But most of our daffodils aren’t, in fact, pollinated by insects because the bigger, more blousy varieties that dominate the home market have been bred by hand and have lost their pollinator-attracting features.
However, the lovely native daffodil, Narcissus pseudonarcissus, is pollinated by bumblebees. I have this growing in my orchard and in the grass flanking hedges throughout the garden. Although compared to the more dramatic man-made varieties it is small and modest in flower, the native daffodil has real charm – and a mass of them in long grass or spilling out from the edge of a wood is a wonderful sight. In fact, there used to be special trains laid on for people to come to see the hundreds of thousands of wild daffodils near Ledbury on the Herefordshire-Gloucestershire border.
The best time to plant these very small bulbs is September or October. They thrive in rich soil that does not dry out too much and should be planted en masse, not worrying too much about grouping or spacing. They spread by seed, rather slowly at first, so be patient, but once they get established it is like compound interest and they will bulk up quickly.
I grow daffodils in pots to cheer the back end of winter, and these can be forced by keeping them under cover and in warmth. But the timing has to be right – I think daffodils are too early if they flower before mid-February (apart from the paper-white type, which can be forced for Christmas), and I still want some in my garden in April. At the moment my favourite for pots are the tiny ‘Tête-à-Tête’ (they can get lost in borders). The name comes from the fact that they often flower in pairs, with the heads bent towards each other like two people engrossed in conversation. Although the flowers are very small they always open above the foliage, so can be seen to maximum advantage. They’re also very hardy and won’t break in bad weather.
Daffodils in pots should be kept watered during their growing season and as the leaves fade. They can then have a dry summer but do best if they get moisture in autumn as they start to grow underground. If daffodils come up ‘blind’ – that is, without any buds – it’s usually because they have been too dry or have become too congested and need lifting, dividing and replanting.
Bear in mind that daffodils must be allowed to die back naturally after flowering, which means that if they’re planted in grass, this should not be cut until the last trace of daffodil leaf has withered away – usually at least six weeks after flowering has finished. Cutting the leaves back will inhibit or even stop flowering the next year.