This Flower Brings back Memories of Bullwinkle

By Kim Bagby, Southside Master Gardener and Southern Piedmont Master Naturalist I’m really going to date myself here, but daffodils bring back a vivid memory: Bullwinkle J. Moose reciting William Wordsworth’s poem, “Daffodils” in that goofy voice of his. And here the daffodils are again, and I’m smiling at Bullwinkle still. Daffodils, also known as narcissus, jonquils, Lent lilies, Easter bells and, locally, as buttercups, are originally from areas around the Mediterranean. They’re the Narcissus genus and came to North America in the 1600s, though they weren’t documented here for almost another century. They flourished in the southeastern United States. Along with periwinkle, they were sometimes used to mark graves, particularly of enslaved people whose families couldn’t provide an expensive gravestone. Daffodil plantings can last over a hundred years if they’re allowed to, and so people searching out old homesteads and graveyards look to where the daffodils grow to try to locate these old sites. The American Daffodil Society says there are as many as 200 different species, subspecies, and varieties of daffodils, and over 32,000 registered cultivars. They classify these into 13 divisions based on characteristics such as the flower’s form and colors. Daffodils grown from seed take up to 5 years to flower! But they reproduce quite readily by bulb division and will do so year after year. They’re not considered invasive but big drifts of naturalized daffodils can crowd out native spring ephemerals. Plant daffodil bulbs in the fall before the ground freezes. This gives them time to establish roots before spring. They like the sun but will grow well enough in a little shade. They’re easy to grow in almost any kind of soil we have around here as long as it’s not soggy. They’re some of the earliest bloomers in our gardens, but careful selection from the different cultivars with different bloom times can give you daffodil blooms all summer and into the fall.

Daffodils emerge in early spring and then burst open with the bright cheery flowers that bring a smile to our face thinking winter is over! Once they’ve bloomed, the best practice is to leave them alone—don’t cut or mow them—until after the leaves have turned yellow or brown. It's okay to deadhead them, but even after the bloom’s over, the leaves continue to produce food for the bulbs for about six more weeks, which helps fuel that bulb growth that results in the spread of the planting. Cutting the leaves back before they’re yellowed takes a lot of nourishment from the bulbs and they won’t do well. One of the benefits of daffodils in the garden is that deer and rodents won’t eat them, though they may dig the bulbs up. Daffodils are toxic to both animals and humans. Likewise, cut blooms don’t do well in vases with other flowers unless you condition them first. Daffodils release a sticky substance into the water that can clog other flowers’ vascular systems. There’s a way to do it, though! Pull daffodils from ground level—don’t cut them from the plant and be sure to leave the leaves intact. Trim the stems and put them in a vase with cool water for a few hours to let the sticky sap run. Rinse them off, wash the vase, and then they should be good to go with other flowers or greenery. To keep them going, trim the stems and re-condition them every few days. Or you can just relax and put them in a Mason jar with some water and enjoy them for days and days just the way they are. Many thanks to our Virginia Cooperative Extension Southside Master Gardeners and Virginia Master Naturalist Southern Piedmont Chapter, and to all the people who give their time to and through these groups to serve their communities. The Virginia Cooperative Extension Halifax Office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. If you have gardening questions, you can continue to reach an extension master gardener or extension staff member by sending an email to ask@ssmga.org or by calling the Halifax Extension Master Gardener Help Desk at 434-830-3383. Be sure to give us your first and last name, telephone number and the nature of the call. The help desk phone is routinely checked Monday-Friday. Someone will get back to you, although it may be from a different telephone number.