Daffodils and Garden Beds

Planting under deciduous trees does not mean planting over the roots of trees. I define under deciduous trees to be in a clearing between trees. Make the garden bed in the clearing with trees on the sides to provide shade, and avoid planting under the drip of the trees.

Daffodil Planting Strategy Early this summer I dug my early and my mid season daffodils. Of course each group has a mingling with bulbs that bloom in other seasons, but I'm speaking of the majority being either early or mid-season. Why do I mingle bulbs from mid to late season in my early daffodils? Good question, but it has to do with show schedules. If the "Gods" of the climate are with you, and you plant a late season daffodil in the early or mid-season beds, there are good chances that this daffodil will bloom a week or two earlier than the same daffodil planted in the late bed. By doing that, at the early shows you will have a late season daffodil and it just might mean the difference between winning that blue ribbon, or getting the red one.

Late Daffodil Bed Strategy A late bed for me is one that is designed so that the majority of the bulbs will flower later in the "daffodil" season, which is generally the month of April in my part of Maryland. The bed in this picture is behind a small fence, and is on the reverse slope. This was my original bed that I made when we moved into this house. It's 50 feet long by 50 feet wide.

Some daffodils are, by nature, ready for late season gardening. As a group, daffodils in divisions 3 short cupped, 4 double, 5 triandrus, 7 jonquilla, and 9 poeticus are the strong members of this late "tribe." Usually you don't have to do anything to these members of daffodil family to make them late. But sometimes it's good to have an earlier divison 1 or 2, and maybe a division 6 planted in this grouping to give you a later bloom than if they are planted in early beds. There are things you can do to help the process along.

First of all there are some late late division 3, 4, 7, and 9 that will bloom after the daffodil season is over, if left to their own accord. I plant these intermingled in my early and my mid-season beds,

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