First Daffodils Of 2009 Have Arrived

While most of us will have to wait at least another month (some much longer) to see the first daffodils of 2009,many gardeners all over the Northern Hemisphere are already enjoying theirs. You must visit First Daffodils 2009. This delightful blog tracks the first daffodils of the season as they emerge. Already they have posted photos from California,Japan,England and the Netherlands.

If you're in a frigid landscape that won't be turning green anytime soon you'll really enjoy visiting First Daffodils 2009.And if Your narcissus bulbs are sending up shoots and blooms be sure to let them know so they can show your photos.

In my own Alabama garden my faithful patch of Carlton large cup daffs are sprouting in the unseasonably warm weather. I was late planting many of my new bulbs this year so I'm sure I won't be seeing any of them until the normal time in February and March.

I'd like to thank everyone who has visited my All About Daffodils in the short time since I started it. I especially want to thank those who have commented and emailed me with such friendly and positive feedback. I want to wish you all a happy and healthy and floriforous 2009.

I hope anyone who may be reading will subscribe to my updates by RSS feed or email because the daffodil season never really ends for us gardeners. Spring will be here sooner than we think and it will again be time to enjoy the daffodils that we've worked so hard to plant this Autumn and then to planning our 2010 daffodil plantings.

Happy New Year and God Bless!

Tyla Mac

Photo by Clearly Ambiguous on Flickr

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Indoor Daffodils: More Than Paperwhites

Last time I gave you the low-down on growing paperwhite bulbs indoors but did you know you can grow other daffodils inside for winter blooming? Although paperwhites and other tazetta type narcissi don't need cold treating other types such as trumpets and large cup types do. It takes time to get daffodils to bloom indoors but it's not difficult. Read on and I'll show you how.

Trumpet and Large Cup daffodils will need a cold treatment of about 12 weeks in order to coax them into blooming. This can be accomplished either by potting the bulbs up and refrigerating them or putting them in a cold (but not freezing),dark basement or garage.If you have already given the bulbs a cold treatment in your fridge this step is unnecessary.Just pot them up and bring them into the light when you see the new shoots growing.

You can use any flower pot with drainage holes for your daffodil bulbs but make sure to give the roots about 5 or 6 inches of room to grow.Use a light potting soil and make sure to moisten the soil. Make sure the bulbs don't touch to protect against rotting. .

You should start to see shoots in about 8-10 weeks. When you see the flower buds emerge it's time to move the pots into the light.Keep the pots in bright but indirect light for the first week or so. When you see flower bulbs breaking through the soil it's time to give them as much sun as possible. To further mimic natural conditions put them back in a cool dark area at night. This will make them think it's early spring.

If you don't want to stake the flower stems you can water them with an alcohol solution and change the position of the pots every day. The flower stalks will grow toward the light when grown in a sunny window.See my post on growing paperwhites for instructions on the pickling method using liquor and water to keep your daffodil stems short and strong.

Make sure to keep your daffodils watered during blooming to help the flowers last longer. Daffodil leaves will grow for about 10 weeks after blooming and during this time they store up energy for the following year. If you've planted paperwhites it's unlikely that they will bloom again. You should treat them as annuals and discard them as soon as they are finished blooming.Other narcissus types will bloom again if you let the leaves develop undisturbed.

For daffodils other than paperwhites you have two choices after the leaves die back. You can leave them in their pots and begin the process again in the late autumn or early winter. Or you can plant them in a dry place and treat them as you would the rest of the daffodils in your garden. Be aware that it may take the bulbs two more years to bloom in the garden after being forced into blooms indoors.

As you can see forcing daffodils indoors is not difficult. If you have daffodil bulbs that you didn't get planted before your soil froze you can get them started inside now so you won't have to miss enjoying spring daffodils next year.

Paperwhites on Blue II

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Paperwhites For Indoor Flowers All Winter Long

Photo by thebittenword.com on Flickr

Paperwhites are members of the daffodil family that can be grown indoors for winter flowers. The great thing about paperwhites is that they can be grown with no chilling period. The process is really easy, too. We'll go through it step by step and I'll also show you a cool trick to make them grow healthy and strong.

Although paperwhites aren't properly called daffodils, their classification is narcissus tazetta . I'm not really sure why it's incorrect to refer to a paperwhite as a daffodil but that's what The American Daffodil Society says so I'm going with that. Whatever you call them, they will provide beautiful flowers for your windowsill in the middle of the gloomiest winter day.

To get paperwhite bulbs started, get a shallow bowl or flowerpot and add an inch or two of light sandy soil or pebbles. You can buy containers made especially for growing paperwhites but this isn't necessary. Any shallow clear glass or plastic container will work fine. Make sure the planting medium covers the bottom of the container. Then set the bulbs right on top of this first layer.It's okay to pack them tightly and let them touch each other. An odd number of three or five bulbs makes a nice bold display. After the bulbs are arranged the way you want them add just enough soil or pebbles to anchor them in place. Make sure their necks are not covered. You want the roots to grow downward towards moisture. You do not want the bulb to be sitting in water.

If your budget allows it's nice to plant a new pot of paperwhite bulbs every week or so to have blooms continuously for the rest of the winter. It's a little late for Christmas blooms this year but if you start some bulbs now they will be blooming in about a month. Wouldn't that brighten up your January and help you start the New Year off right?

Pickle Your Paperwhites To Make Them Stronger

One of the most annoying things about paperwhites is the need to stake them. When they are grown in a warm indoor environment they tend to have long spindly leaves and flower stems that flop right over if they aren't tied to a wire or wooden stake. There is a way around that though.

For the pickling method you need to use a clear container and pebbles,stones or marbles as your planting medium. Add just enough water at planting to give the roots some moisture to reach for. Don't fill the container with water. This will cause your bulbs to rot. If the water evaporates add more until you see roots growing from the bottom of the bulbs. At this point you want to empty the water from the container and add a new solution to the pot that consists of seven parts water to one part hard liquor. What? Liquor? That's right. You can add any hard liquor to the water and your paperwhites will grow short stout stems instead of tall skinny ones that flop over before the blooms open. This doesn't harm them in any way. In fact it doesn't affect the flowering at all. This water and booze solution is what you'll give them every time they need water.

This has been a well documented way to keep paperwhites short without the need for staking. No one including Cornell researchers who performed the pickling experiment several years ago seems to know why this works, only that it does. It doesn't really matter what type of liquor you use but I would recommend a clear liquor such as gin, vodka or everclear rather than a dark strong smelling liquor like rum or whiskey. You can also use isopropyl or rubbing alcohol but you'll need to increase the dilution rate to one part alcohol to ten parts water.

For some great paperwhite bulbs and kits for sale check out Paperwhite Narcissus For Indoor Blooms All Winter Long.

Next we'll talk more about growing paperwhites.

Narcissus on Brown II

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Lovell, Katherine


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