When daffodils don’t bloom

QUESTION: I have a lot of daffodils that shoot up nice and green, but some varieties don’t bloom as well as they once did. What do they need? Some of these have not been in the ground very long.

We’re coming into prime-time for daffodils. The early varieties have bloomed and sailed gracefully through Middle Tennessee’s March cold snap. Of course you’d like to continue to enjoy as many blooms as you can.

The web site of the American Daffodil Society has a long list of reason daffodils may not bloom. See if any of these conditions may affect your flowers:

Too much shade: Daffodils should be planted in an area that gets at least a half-day of full sun, or more, if they are planted in partial sun.

Crowded conditions: After bulbs have been growing in the same place for many years, they may need to be dug up and divided. They divide themselves every year or two, and the clumps of bulbs compete for food and space. They respond by ceasing to bloom. After the foliage turns yellow later this spring, dig the bulbs, separate them, and replant them about 6 inches apart, 6 inches deep.

Fighting for food: Bulbs that are planted under evergreen trees or with other fast-growing plants may be competing against those plants for the available nutrients in the soil – and losing. The result would be weak plants and no flowers.

Impatient gardener: If you were too quick to cut down the foliage the previous year, the bulbs may not have had time to replenish themselves enough to flower. The ADS explains that daffodils replenish their bulb for about six weeks after they bloom, and the leaves should not be cut off or tied up (which blocks the sun) until they turn yellow.

In general, daffodils need well-drained, slightly acidic soil in a sunny location, and plenty of water while they are growing. They benefit from a top-dressing of 0-10-10 or 0-0-50 fertilizer, but avoid high nitrogen fertilizer, which promotes foliage growth at the expense of blooms. The right growing conditions result in a beautiful, daffodil-filled spring.

Get back out in the garden! The gardening season is back, which means the return of the monthly Landscape & Garden Calendar in The Tennessean. Check it out here.

Garden events in Middle Tennessee

March 14:Nashville’s annual Arbor Day event will be held in Centennial Park. Festivities  begin at 11 a.m. Memorial trees will be planted to honor several Nashville citizens, and Metro 5th graders will read their winning “My Favorite Tree” Essay Contest entries.

March 16: Backyard Sustainable Gardening workshops sponsored by Hands On Nashville and led by Cliff Davis of Spiral Ridge Permaculture. Day-long mini-course introduces the theory behind permaculture and offers hands-on training. Learn the basics of permaculture. Workshops will take place at the Hands On Nashville Urban Farm, 361 Wimpole Drive. Learn more and register here.

March 23 – 24: Middle Tennessee Daffodil Society’s Spring Daffodil Show is at Cheekwood’s Botanic Hall in Massey Auditorium. Daffodil entries are accepted between 8 and 10 a.m. March 23, and the show is open to the public 1:30 – 4:30 on March 23, and 11:30 – 4 on March 24. Learn more about the Daffodil Society here.

April 6: Perennial Plant Society of Middle Tennessee Plant Sale, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the TennesseeState Fairgrounds in the Sports Arena Building. This is the largest perennial plant sale in Tennessee, and offers hundreds of varieties including natives, grasses, groundcovers, small shrubs and select annuals along with the perennial favorites. For details, visit the PPS web site.

April 20: Herb Society of Nashville Herb Sale, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds Sports Arena Building. Hard-to-find varieties of annual and perennial herbs, shopping assistance, The Compost Man. New this year: a square-foot gardening display, and handmade pottery by Roy Overcast. Admission is free; $5 parking fee at the Fairgrounds. Visit the Herb Society of Nashville’s web site to learn more, and on Facebook at The Herb Society of Nashville.

Cover the ground, not the daffodils

QUESTION: What groundcovers can be used that will allow daffodils to come up in the spring?

Spring bulbs will grow through English ivy, but there are better groundcover choices to use.

Several plants used as groundcover permit spring-flower bulbs to grow through. Nashville-area garden specialists offer a few recommendations:

Ajuga, or bugleweed (Ajuga reptans). To some people this is a nice groundcover, to others it’s a weedy nuisance. It can be aggressive, but in the right spot it might be just what you need.

Periwinkle (Vinca minor), grows in shade, is green all year, and has pretty blue or white flowers in spring. Please note: Vinca minor is listed among the invasive exotic plants in Tennessee. Please use responsibly.

Daffodils will also push up through English ivy (Hedera helix), but because it, too, is an invasive exotic that can climb trees and displace more desired species, I would never suggest planting it in the landscape.

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March: In like a lion

I’m writing this shortly after coming up out of the basement, where we hunkered down for a few minutes Friday afternoon while a possible tornado loomed. The sound of the hail pounding down was tremendous.

I tell you this to let you know that the March Landscape & Garden Calendar, which runs the first Saturday of each month in The Tennessean, starts up again March 3. I say there that meteorologist Bobby Boyd has told us to expect a turbulent spring. Nevertheless, it’s time to get out into the garden again. Look here for the story; go here for a .pdf version of the calendar.

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The Nashville Lawn & Garden Show is this weekend, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. today (March 3); 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. tomorrow.

Don’t worry about the daffodils

It’s only January, and the daffodils in my yard are already coming up! How do I keep them from freezing?

Early risers: daffodils can survive winter.

It may seem too early for this unmistakable sign of spring, but it’s not unusual for the shoots of early daffodils to begin pushing up through the ground. In some places, they started coming up before Christmas. The best thing to do is: Nothing. In fact, there is nothing you can do. Spread some pine straw over the daffodil bed if it makes you feel better, but really, even that is an unnecessary step, says Anne Owen of the Middle Tennessee Daffodil Society.

We’re at the mercy of the weather fluctuations, but generally, a blast of cold weather won’t hurt the daffodils, Owen says. The worst that could happen is that the weather turns warm and stays warm enough for long enough that the daffodils bloom; then the flowers might succumb to a snap of extreme cold. If we get a freeze while only the leaves are up, they should survive without a problem.

Good reading

It’s a good time to sit down with a stack of seed catalogs (or a list of seed company URLs) and plan this year’s kitchen garden. Here are some of my favorites (where I indulge in a little wishful thinking):

Seed Savers’ Exchange (Unusual varieties not found at the big box store seed kiosks)

Seeds of Change (Seeds, supplies, and live plants, too)

Territorial Seed Company (Try out the online garden planner)

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (“Particularly suited to the Mid-Atlantic and similar regions”)

Renee’s Garden (Pretty as a cottage garden)

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (Recipes included!)

John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds (Straightforward, with tidy line drawings; more tips and entertaining reading at the website)

Brent & Becky’s Bulbs (One of the best sources for bulbs, say those in the know)

Burpee (for sheer volume, and all those luscious pictures!)