April 18, 2008

when daffodils don’t flower well

Filed Under bulbs, urgent garden questions

: Why so few flowers?

: Happy drift of Narcissus

THE FIRST URGENT QUESTION asked on our new Urgent Garden Question Forums was truly the crisis of the moment:
“My daffodil leaves are lush and green this year but I have a total of three that have buds/blooms. (This is out of about 70 bulbs in a garden bed.) Could it be over the last several years of wonderful blooms they have just exhausted themselves? Could they possibly now be buried too deep? (I did add several inches of soil/compost last fall.)”—Kenn
What causes this?

When flowering plants don’t bloom well it’s usually an issue of either not enough light; too much nitrogen (which makes green, not flowers) or not enough of the nutrients they need because of competition with other plants; or overcrowding. But I wanted to look it up and get more info, because I had always thought my daffodil drifts were “forever.” And forever just came to an end, apparently.

ALL OF THOSE REASONS, AND MORE

The American Daffodil Society website confirms that any/all of the above can be the culprit, as can a soggy location; cutting off the foliage too early before the bulb ripens; an early heatwave the previous spring that similarly prevented ripening; and a few more remote possibilities like viruses.
So I’ve been outdoors this morning examining my many drifts of non-blooming narcissus, versus the clumps that are performing well, to figure out who needs what from me. All the while I was hoping against hope the answer isn’t “overcrowding,” because with thousands of bulbs, I cannot imagine how they’re all going to get lifted, divided, replanted.
The ADS says to divide every three to five years, meaning many of my drifts are 10 years overdue. (Do I see any A Way to Garden volunteers stepping forward to participate in The Big Dig?)
I’m going to try feeding, but with an all-natural organic food that I know won’t be an instant answer. I’ve pruned the apple trees that some of the worst-performing clumps were under, to let in more light. I will water well while the bulbs are up and growing because I know the tree roots are depriving the bulbs of needed moisture—another reason bulbs fail.
Want to know more about growing Narcissus? The American Daffodil Society is a great place to begin. Or jump into the discussion on our Bulb Forum, where Kenn started the whole thing.

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Comments

2 Responses to “when daffodils don’t flower well”

GardenGuyKenn on April 18th, 2008 7:08 pm

Okay Margaret, pack a picnic.. we’re digging daffodils! (as a last resort of course!) Thank you for the link and info.. here’s hoping next spring I can share good news in the Narcissus department!
Terri Clark on April 21st, 2008 7:39 pm

The old gardeners in Stanley Park, Vancouver, where I was the Communication person for many decades, put down non-flowering daffs to two prime reasons: the “narcissus fly” and soil that is far too rich. They planted drifts on park fringes in dry turf and left the leaves to die down before mowing in the fall. They purported that cutting narcissus too early made it easier for the “fly”, later grub, to invade the plant.
I have nothing to backup their therory except the exceptional early daffs of all descriptions that they were able to foster season after season.
Terri

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from martha to just margaret
I was so blessed to visit and document many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as its garden editor and then as editorial director for the company. The list of places we were proud to publish included my own upstate New York home a few years back. Take a tour of how it looked then. Want to know more about me? Or read what Anne Raver said in June in The New York Times, calling A Way to Garden “the best (garden blog) I’d ever seen.”
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August Garden Chores

All based on my Zone 5B Berkshire/Hudson Valley location; adjust accordingly.

I SOMETIMES THINK THAT AUGUST, not April, is the cruelest month (though T.S. Eliot thought otherwise). Hazy, hot and humid…and plum tuckered out. But give up we must not. Every weed pulled now is a hundred you don’t have to deal with later (well, who knows the precise math of mama weed to baby weed, but you get the idea: prevention!). Don’t let them go to seed.

WATERING IS another major focus; don’t waste water on lawns, which will bounce back from brown in time when cooler, moister days return.

MAKE A PASS through each bed each week, since weeds are not just unsightly but steal moisture, nutrients and light from desired plants. Top up mulch in all garden beds if washed or worn away to help in the plight.

TREES & SHRUBS

STOP FEEDING woody plants. Promoting more soft growth in high summer isn’t good; time for them to start moving toward the hardening-off phase of their cycle. No more eats till earliest spring.

TREES ARE especially vulnerable to drought, particularly the oldest and the youngest (those planted in the last few years). Water deeply, as with a Tree-Gator. Ugly…but better than not watering the kids!

ALWAYS BE on the lookout for dead, damaged, diseased wood in trees and shrubs and prune them out as discovered. Ditto with suckers and water sprouts.

VEGETABLE, FRUIT & HERBS

AS AREAS COME EMPTY from harvest, build vegetable-garden soil by sowing cover crops: medium red clover now, or perhaps winter rye if you don’t do some areas till mid-fall. These “green manures” will be turned under to improve soil tilth and fertility.

SOW ANOTHER CROP OF PEAS right now for fall harvest (and perhaps freezing for offseason use!). Shelled peas from the freezer really make risotto in January taste like summer.

STRAWBERRY BEDS may appreciate rejuvenation now, if you didn’t get it done last month.

KEEP ASPARAGUS well weeded. Let asparagus ferns grow till frost to feed the underlying crowns.

DID YOU HARVEST GARLIC? Save the best heads for replanting this fall, the ones with the biggest cloves (or order more for fall delivery).

ANOTHER SOWING of chard, radishes, arugula, spinach, turnips, beets and lettuce means succulent fall crops. With salad greens, sow small amounts now and again in 10 days. Direct-sow one more row of bush beans if you don’t have pole beans to rely on for harvest now through fall, but do it fast.

DID YOU START MORE BASIL from seed? Young, fresh plants sown immediately will be better than woody old ones for combining with those fall tomatoes. Is there enough fresh dill coming for late pickles? For peak flavor, basil, sage, marjoram and oreganos, mint, tarragon are best harvested just before bloom. Harvest lavender, rosemary and chamomile as they flower, blossoms and all.

FLOWER GARDEN

DAYLILIES can be dug and divided as they complete their bloom cycle, right into fall, if needed.

PEONIES are best divided and transplanted in late August through September, if they need it. Remember with these fussy guys that “eyes” must not be buried more than an inch or two beneath the soil surface. Want more peonies? Now’s the time to order from places like Klehm’s (see Sources list).

MANY POPULAR ANNUALS can be overwintered as young plants if you take and root cuttings now rather than try to nurse along leggy older specimens. Geraniums, coleus, wax begonias, even impatiens (to name just a few common ones), if grown in good light indoors and kept pinched and bushy, will yield another generation of cuttings for next spring’s transplants. Probably best to expend this effort and space on things you really treasure—an unusual form of something, not the garden variety.

MANY PERENNIALS and biennials can still be started from seed if you hurry, then set out in the fall into nursery beds.

DEADHEAD FADED PERENNIALS and summer bulbs unless they have showy seedheads, or you want to collect seed later (non-hybrids only).

ORDER BULBS to get varieties you want (see Sources). Remember our “early, middle, late” mantra when doing so.

PREPARE NEW beds for fall planting by smothering grass or weeds with layers of recycled corrugated cardboard or thick layers of newspaper, then put mulch on top.

RE-EDGE BEDS to make a clean line and define them, and keep edges clean with regular fine-tuning with grass shears. A clean edge makes a big difference.

GENERAL

IF YOU ARE IN JAPANESE BEETLE territory, handpick (as with other obvious pests like tomato hornworms) in early morning and drown in a can of water to reduce infestation. Plan to try to reduce grub population with nematodes.

GARDENS NEED an inch of water a week from you or the heavens. Check your rain gauge to make sure they get it, and remember: soak deeply in the root zone, don’t spritz things with a sprayer now and again like you’re washing the car. That’s a garden no-no. Pots need extra attention, especially smallish ones in sun, and they also need regular feeding. Be alert!

HOUSEPLANTS

IF HOUSEPLANTS NEED repotting, do it now, while’s they’re still outside (less messy than in the house!). Don’t step up more than an inch (on small pots) or a couple (on large ones). Most plants don’t like to swim in their containers.

LAWNS

MID-AUGUST TO MID-SEPTEMBER is prime lawn-renovation and planting time in the North.

DON’T BAG OR RAKE clippings; let them lie on the lawn to return Nitrogen to the soil.

COMPOST HEAP

DON’T LET the heap dry out completely, or it will not “cook.” Turning it to aerate will also hasten decomposition, but things will rot eventually even if not turned.
Brief but Juicy

ultimate garden no-no’s
WHEN SOMEONE ASKED in a comment about my point of view on using landscape fabric, the fuse was quickly lit: NO! I said. NO! I’ve rounded up some no-no’s we’ve posted collectively so far, but I bet by now there are a few more things to bitch about. Grab a lawn chair and a cold drink, and we can fester together. Sure beats weeding (which ought to be a garden no-no).

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THE SAYING GOES THAT a thing of beauty is a joy forever. I guess “forever” in this case is in the mind’s eye. My darling, oldest bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) went down for the count in July, or at least half of it did, and I had already seen the death knell for a couple of my 10 crabapples. Jeez.

true love, really
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hail the stewartia
I LIKE PLANTS THAT EARN THEIR KEEP. By that I mean they do more than a week or two of showing off; they look good in more than a single moment, or season. The small-ish to medium trees in the genus Stewartia are a good bet if that’s the kind of multi-season interest you are looking for. Sound good?

more, more, more clematis
WHEN I SEE ‘POLISH SPIRIT’ CLAMBERING up and through the golden Chamaecyparis in late spring-into-summer, I realize I have a serious Clematis shortage around here. Not in the Chamaecyparis, specifically, but in lots of other places where things look a little dull. I’ve got a penchant for growing vines up and over otherwise-dull shrubbery, you see.

can-do pruning
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the ‘other’ peonies
JUNE WAS PEONY TIME, the big raucous kind of peony time, but just before that another kind of peony you might want to consider adopting did its subtler, wonderful thing.

which lilac to plant?
SO MANY LILACS, so little space. Browse a glossary of some of my favorites before you shop—maybe you’ll like them, too.

non-blooming peonies?
Did your peonies not cooperate—was there not a good crop of flower buds, and you don’t know why? This came up on the Forums, and here’s the dish.

twist-off ticks
I AM COMING IN everyday with at least a tick or two on me; not embedded, thankfully, so far, but it's only a matter of time. But I am prepared. Are you?

anything but forsythia
I guess I have a thing against forsythia…even though I have several specimens of it along the fringes of my property. But there are better choices for spring color among shrubs.

surprise (avian) visitors
If you make a garden for birds, or even plant a crabapple or two (or ten), you never know who’ll show up.

magnolias to love
THEY’RE MEMORIES NOW but I couldn't garden without magnolias. Want to know more about the queen of the spring-blooming trees?

order in the garden
I AM LABELING my plants, I am. As memory fades, out comes the label machine, just in the nick. Saved by the Dymo. You can be, too.
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