THE GRUMPY GARDENER


GIVE DAFFODILS AND TULIPS A HELPING HAND AND THEY’LL REWARD YOU FOR YEARS


Whether grown in containers and pots, in the garden or on lawns and grassland, daffodils and tulips rarely fail to please, bringing colour and contrast at a time when we are often still in the drabness of early spring waiting for other plants to show off their style, says the Grumpy Gardner, Graham Paskett.


I


f the daffs survive the battering of early spring rain and wind, or attack by rabbits and birds, they will give


years of enjoyment – with some tlc after they have finished flowering. The vitally important thing to


remember is dead head – removing fading and dying flower heads. You can either simply remove the actual flower or the entire stem – but NOT under any circumstances the leaves. I know they can look a bit messy and ugly as they turn brown and die, but this is an essential phase of their cycle. Cutting down the leaves before they have died back will result in small, stunted flowers next year or even ‘blind’ plants with no flower at all.


These leaves are a key part of


enriching the bulb for the future. Benefitting from a process known as photosynthesis, the sunlight creates sugars that feed back into the bulb. It takes approximately six weeks for the die-back process to complete after the plants have been dead headed.


Daffodils (and tulips for that matter) that are grown in containers can be lifted after the die-back process


has been completed. Store them carefully in dark, dry


‘There are some incredible colours for tulips and it really isn’t surprising that back in the 1630s in Holland they were exchanging hands for small fortunes’


During this time a judicious feed of a general-purpose fertiliser such as Vitax Q4 which has all the necessary plant food and trace elements. This needs to be applied when it’s wet. Also, do not let the bulb plants to dry out during this dying back process. If we hit a no rain May, give them a good watering. Never


fold over the leaves


or tie them down as this significantly reduces the process of photosynthesis, starving the bulb of their much-needed sugars.


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conditions and make sure you throw away on diseased or damaged bulbs. Plant them again in spring but, for tulips at least, don’t try to replant in containers, put them instead in the garden or lawn.


Bulb reproduction Bulbs


reproduce in two ways:


asexually where the bulbs divide and grow new, small versions of themselves that will be exact copies, and sexual, from seed. These are likely to be slightly different flowers. My photograph of some


narcissus growing in my garden in Staffordshire shows how predominantly white species have, in two cases, developed with a pale lime green coloured flowers. This is an example of seed reproduction and has happened now for three years. I shall carefully mark the green plants and feed them with Vitax Q4 as they die back before lifting and storing them to be replanted in the autumn. Watch this space! Maybe, just maybe, I have got a new species. The dead heading, feeding and die- back process is the same for tulips as for daffodils. A lot of growers believe that those grown in containers have had such a stressful season they are unlikely to reproduce properly. I’m not entirely sure and lift all pot grown tulips after the process is completed and store them, planting them in the garden rather than back into pots in the autumn. There are some incredible colours for tulips and it really isn’t surprising that back in the 1630s in Holland they were exchanging


hands for small fortunes. This period is known as the tulipmania and really began to take off in 1634, reaching its peak three years later when, not surprisingly, the whole thing collapsed leaving a lot of very poor gardeners and growers.


The history Daffodils are narcissus and the name comes from Greek mythology. An extremely handsome young Greek hunter was so vain that he constantly looked at his own reflection in a still pool. A water nymph fell madly in love with him, but he did not return her affections, instead he constantly gazed at his own image. In desperation, she put a spell on him and he eventually faded away, leaving daffodils where he had been lying on the bank. A fair exchange I reckon!


• For more insight from the Grumpy Gardener, visit www. paskettpr.co.uk or www. grahamthegrumpygardener. co.uk/blogs


MAY 2022 DIY WEEK 17


Photo: Annie Spratt


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