The Basics of Growing Daffodils

Growing Daffodils for the Home Gardener

Growing daffodils starts with the bulb, continues through planting season and ends the following spring with the flowers. There is really no "a" to "z" of growing daffodils, just some applications of basic gardening practices that are guaranteed to bring success.

Daffodils

The first stop in growing daffodils is to determine the daffodils that you want to plant, and a source to obtain them. Order daffodils from a gardening catalog in the spring for fall delivery, or select bulbs that arrive in the home center type stores like "Home Depot" or "Wal-Mart" in September each year. Yellow is the most favorite color, and trumpet daffodils are the ones with the reputation of giving the brightest color in the spring. My recommendation is to get a mixture of colors. I also suggest tall daffodils that will swing gracefully in the spring breezes, versus those stiff ones that do not.

Planting Depth

Plant the daffodil from four to six inches down from the top of the bulb. Make sure the round-flat part is down, and the pointed part up. The smaller bulbs should be planted more shallow than the large bulbs. In the colder climates, heavy mulching may be necessary, and less necessary toward the warmer climates.

How Much Water

In the United States, there is not much concern for watering of the daffodils except for the dry areas such as southern California. When first planted, give them enough water such that the entire bulb is damp. A pint of water for each bulb should do the trick. There is no need to make a quagmire, just normal watering until the soil is soaked. After that, the normal rainfall should take care of the watering requirements. In drier areas, watering once a week will be sufficient.

During blooming season, additional watering from soaker hoses will cause the blooms to be bigger and brighter. Do not water with sprinkler systems as they will cause the flowers to nod over and lay on the ground, as the flower is heavy from the start and the added weight of the water will cause it to fall. Daffodils like a dry summer and will sometimes rot when the area that they are growing is regularly watered for lawn or other flower bed needs.

A water meter can be purchased for about $20.00 from your local garden center but is not necessary. If you use a water meter, daffodils like it wet during bloom season and the water should read in the "wet" zones.

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