Planning Next Year's Daffodil Garden Part 2

In part one of my series on planning next year's daffodil garden I wrote about what you can do now to plan for the autumn bulb planting season. I hope you're taking notes and pictures and marking your daffodils well. This will make your job much easier in October when you're planting new bulbs and preparing your garden for winter.

Take Plenty of Pictures of Your Daffodils At All Stages Of Growth

Taking pictures of your flower garden is not really a job. It can one of the most enjoyable aspects of gardening if you also like photography. The reason taking pictures of your flowers is so important is that it's hard to remember what your garden looks like in various seasons. If you have lots of photos you'll never have to worry about it. Make sure to take close ups and long shots. If you use a digital camera your pics will be automatically be dated.

When you review your pictures you'll be noting things like the health of your plants and what the weather conditions were like during your growing season. Of course it's easy to remember to take pictures when your flowers are blooming but it will also be valuable to take pictures at all stages of growth from the first green shoots to the last withering leaf.I would advise doing this for all the plants in your garden.

Keep A Garden Journal And Take Good Notes

Keeping a good garden journal doesn't have to be fancy or complicated. I just use a spiral bound notebook and scribble away when I need to record what's happening in my garden. When it comes to your daffodils you'll want to take notes of things like blooming dates and weather conditions. Although spring weather tends to be erratic almost everywhere on the globe,after you take notes for a few seasons you will begin to understand your seasonal weather patterns better.

Make sure to record temperatures and rainfall. Also take note of the bloom times of other flowers,trees and shrubs in your area. After a few years you'll be able to tell exactly when different types of daffodils will bloom in your area. For example I know that the Thalia variety of triandrus daffodils (the one in the picture) blooms at the same time as the redbud trees in my garden.

Of course you'll also want to record and take pictures of your daffodils that don't bloom or that look as if they may be diseased or suffering from nutrient deficiencies. Narcissi do occasionally suffer from viral diseases although this is not common if you started with healthy bulbs from a reputable retailer.

Stay tuned for part 3 of Planning Next Year's Daffodils when I'll tell you how and when to divide your old daffodils and how to choose your new ones.