Welcoming the season’s stalwarts - daffodils!
Nothing quite says spring is here like the humble daffodil
With one of the wettest autumns on record and waterlogged fields of unharvested potatoes here in Lincolnshire, I was rather worried about how the daffodils would fare. One thing daffodils don't like is having their feet in water for any length of time. Part of the problem is it can encourage basal rot. As the name suggests, this is the base of the bulb and roots rotting. For this reason it's important to maintain good drainage. If the bulbs sit in water they don't develop a good root system to cope with dry conditions as they don't have the roots to go deeper for moisture.
However, things have been better than expected and ‘Spring Dawn’ was in flower in late December, along with my early snowdrops. Then, as the aconites began to appear, ‘Tamara’ and ‘Rijnveld’s Early Sensation’ began to flower. Normally there's a gap between these varieties but this year, with the mild weather, everything seems to be on fast forward.
There are lots of varieties to look forward to and one of my favourites, ‘Saint Keverne’, isn't far from flowering. This variety seems to have an in-built tolerance to basal rot but is also a prolific flower producer, so I can take some stems from the clump when the buds have just burst and put them in my cool conservatory where they'll bloom and last two weeks. Unfortunately, two varieties I was particularly looking forward to seeing at the beginning of March, ‘Sealing Wax’ and ‘Brackenhurst’, got flattened by storm Ciara when a large part of my 60-yearold willow tree flew 10m (33ft) through the air. Despite the best efforts of the tree surgeon it was impossible to clear up without trampling them. I'll give them a good feed of low-nitrogen fertiliser and let the foliage die down so that with a fair wind they'll recover and give me joy again next year.
Due to the exceptionally wet autumn I planted many more daffodils in pots than normal. There were several advantages in that it avoided trampling on waterlogged soil, it meant I could work in the dry and more importantly, come spring, it makes life difficult for those little grey slugs to attack. They've a habit of sliding up the leaves and stems, taking a bite as they go, and then chomping on the flower so that when it opens it looks as though there has been an origami competition.
Another advantage of planting in pots is they can be moved around to get good air circulation around the foliage. This is especially important if you've damaged foliage that can be attacked by fungus diseases as it can spread rapidly to the rest of your daffodils. While fungicides will help, plenty of air circulation is preferable.
Most of the varieties I've planted in pots have been later-flowering varieties. A new one to my collection is ‘Papillon Blanc’, a split corona with white petals and creamy white centre. Also in a pot went ‘Sinopel’, an interesting colour combination of white petals and a small green cup that's rimmed with yellow.