Why You Should Plant Daffodils Now-By a. m. Kirby, 



BECAUSE OF THE EARLY GROWTH MADE BY THE BULBS YOU CANNOT GET 

 THE BEST FLOWERS UNLESS YOU PLANT AS SOON AS THE BULBS ARRIVE 



New 

 York 



ANY time between July and November, 

 but the earlier the better, is the daflfo- 

 dil's planting season. Under natural con- 

 ditions they commence making new roots 

 soon after the bulbs ripen which, according 

 to the variety, is, in the latitude of New 

 York, June or July. The poeticus types 

 and their hybrids are especially resentful 

 of being kept dry and dormant. 



Imported bulbs are not likely to be re- 

 ceived before the middle of September, 

 however, and it is therefore well to be ready 

 to plant them at once. The more root 

 growth made before winter, the larger the 

 flowers. Late planted bulbs usually give 

 fairly satisfactory results the next spring; 

 but full-sized, characteristic flowers cannot 

 be expected until the second spring after 

 planting. Growing bulbs may be lifted in 

 July, and at once replanted with good pros- 

 pects of large blooms the next season. 



GARDEN PLANTING 



Daffodils making bulbs not larger than 

 an inch in diameter are quickly and easily 

 planted with a garden dibber, thrust into 

 the ground far enough to make a hole of 

 the proper depth, and wiggled back and 

 forth to enlarge the hole at the bottom, so 

 that the base of the bulb may touch the 

 soil. Large bulbs are best planted with a 

 trowel. In either case they are covered 

 with soil, which, if not "sticky damp," 

 should be pressed very firmly, by hand or 

 foot, into contact with the bulb. 



In heavy ground or low-lying situations, 

 where undue moisture from melting snow 

 or other causes keeps the soil wet for weeks 

 in spring, a handful of sand under and 

 around the bulb of any rare and delicate 

 variety, particularly the white trumpet 

 daffodils, will often prevent it from be- 

 coming diseased through bad drainage. 



PLANTING IN TURF 



When the sod is sufficiently moist and 

 soft, the quickest way is to use a spade 

 handle sharpened dibber-like, with a cross- 

 piece for a foot-rest fastened about six 

 inches from the point. Or thrust a spade 

 or digging fork slantingly into the sod and 

 soil, and insert one or more bulbs in the 

 cleft, tramping the turf back. 



LIFTING AND DIVIDING 



The natural increase by offsets of some 

 varieties is threefold the second year after 

 planting. While most sorts are not so 

 prolific in from three to six years, accord- 

 ing to circumstances, the clumps of plants 

 will have become so crowded, and perhaps 

 the soil so exhausted, that fewer and smaller 

 flowers will be produced. It is then time 

 to dig up the bulbs, separate them and 

 their offsets, and replant. 



The best time to do this, as a rule, is 



when the foliage has yellowed one-third 

 down from the top, but some varieties, 

 particularly those comprising the poeticus, 

 Burbidgei and odorus groups, also Trumpet 

 Maximus, and possibly some others, should 

 be hfted even sooner, for the reason that 

 new root growth commences before the 

 foliage has ripened down. In those cases 

 the later lifting is injurious to the tender 

 rootlets, which are Hkely to die off, weaken- 

 ing the bulb and reducing the size of the 

 next season's flowers, even if it does not 

 prevent flowering altogether. It is con- 

 sidered good practice to lift early — bet- 

 ter too early than too late — store the 

 clumps in a cool, airy, shady place (pref- 

 erably on trays) and there let them ripen 

 and cure until the old leaves and roots are 

 dry, when they are easily cleaned off and 

 divided. 



Lifting should be done by a spading 

 fork; never use a spade, as the danger of 

 cutting the bulbs is thereby increased. 

 Take the fork and insert it perpendicularly 

 an inch or two from the outside of the clump, 

 and thrust it down until the tines are com- 

 pletely buried. Work it backward and 

 forward slightly and from side to side, so 

 as to loosen the surrounding earth, and 

 when the mass will yield easily, incline the 

 fork so that it will pass under the bulbs, 

 and lift them. 



Dividing bulbs held together by matted 

 roots and removing the offsets are best done 

 just before replanting. Do not remove 



Plant daffodil bulbs as early as possible. Tlie 

 more root gro-vvth. made before winter, tlie better 

 the flo'wers 



67 



any offset unless it is entirely detached from 

 the mother bulb, with the exception of the 

 union at the base. This may be cut through 

 with a sharp knife if the variety is choice, 

 though the common sorts are usually merely 

 broken apart. Surplus offsets may be used 

 for naturalizing. 



WINTER MULCHING AND PROTECTION 



In garden culture it is not practicable 

 to follow nature's gradations in covering 

 and uncovering. The best that we can do 

 is to mulch, as soon as the surface of the 

 ground is frozen to a crust, not before, and 

 to remove the mulch in the spring after 

 hard freezing weather is over — before 

 the growth of the bulbs has penetrated the 

 mulch sufficiently to prevent its removal 

 without injuring the young growths. 



The answer to the question "What is 

 the best mulch" depends largely on what 

 kinds are available. The one direct lesson 

 from nature is warmth with air, and the 

 actual substance is of little moment. In 

 Holland, water rushes are used, and they 

 are ideal. On a cold, bleak, northerly 

 exposed, hillside ground, a six-inch cover- 

 ing of forest leaves, held down by tree 

 branches, has been used with great success. 

 In a less exposed and warmer location a 

 four-inch covering would possibly answer 

 well. As for manure, Mr. De Graff, the 

 well-known daffodil grower of Holland, 

 said to me: "Use no more manure. If 

 you cannot get weeds or rushes, try sphag- 

 num moss or cocoanut fibre refuse." A 

 three-inch cover of the latter is light, warm 

 and airy and retains an even degree of 

 moisture. It costs five dollars a ton at the 

 factory. Four to six inches of salt meadow 

 hay — or even ordinary straw and hay — 

 is excellent. 



In the spring, as soon as the ground is 

 workable, after the winter covering has 

 been removed, stir the soil with a narrow 

 rake, hand fork, or prong weeder, to break 

 up the hard-packed surface and so enable 

 the plants to come through easily. 



GROUPING IN GARDENS 



Daffodils are most happily placed when 

 growing iri clumps in the foreground of a 

 border of mixed shrubs and herbaceous 

 plants. The shrubs supply sufficient shel- 

 ter and shade at all times, and the herba- 

 ceous plants grow up and hide the ripening 

 daffodil foliage as it begins to get unsightly. 

 Here the bulbs may remain undisturbed 

 to flourish and increase for several years. 



Plant each variety by itself, in irregular 

 colonies of from twelve to twenty-five 

 bulbs, each one in a httle bay with a back- 

 ground of greenery, alternating the early, 

 mid-season and later flowering A^arieties, 

 so that a long succession of bloom may be 

 enjoyed in all parts of the border. 



