“I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils; beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing In the breeze.”
No doubt the poet William Wordsworth drew a wonderfully evocative word picture when he wrote that poem after coming on such a view on 15 April, 1802, while out walking with his sister Dorothy. The poem was first published in 1807 and has been learnt by many generations of school children since. I hope it is still being taught in schools today.
Daffodils are the March birth month flower and the symbolism is, as you would expect for some of the first flowers to appear after the northern hemisphere winter, is “rebirth” and also domestic happiness, respect, regard and friendship.
Daffodils are the national flower of Wales and the symbol of cancer charities in many parts of the world. It is the town flower of Walcha in NSW.
They contain a number of alkaloids, providing some protection for the plant. This has been exploited by science for use in medicine and traditional therapies and has resulted in the production of “galantamine” for the treatment of Azlheimer’s demetia.
While it might not be a time for daffodils to flower here, it is time to start and think about enjoying catalogues and buying bulbs if you want to have flowers in spring.
The variety I remember from my childhood is the King Alfred which I still feel is hard to beat for size, longevity and spectacular solid yellow colour. Daffodils do, however, come in a great variety of yellows, oranges, creams and whites and many different combinations of these. They come in large singles and doubles and tiny hoop petticoats and every size and colour combination in between.
Our climate here is hardly cold enough for daffodils to do really well as they thrive on cold winters. Certainly in my protected area of town I would not expect them to do well without considerable TLC starting with about six weeks in the vegie drawer of the fridge before planting. However, they are worth the extra effort involved. I would also look for the early flowering varieties so they bloom at the end of the winter or very early spring before the weather warms up.
They like full sun to part shade while flowering and full sun and feeding with a complete fertiliser containing potash during and after flowering as this is when the bulbs are replenishing ready for next year’s flowers. It is important at this time to leave the leaves to naturally die down. This presented a problem when they were naturalised under deciduous trees in another garden I enjoyed as they looked untidy and the grass could not be cut for some time!
They like a free draining, fertile soil and limited watering over summer so the bulbs don’t rot in the ground. Alternatively, they can be lifted after the leaves have died off, cleaned and stored in a cool dark place until planting in the next autumn.
Many times bulbs are not planted deeply enough. The rule of thumb is twice the depth of the bulb. That is, if the bulb is 3 inches from top to bottom, the top of the bulb should be 6 inches below the surface. The reason for this is so that the stems will be strong and not fall over … so that they can “flutter and dance in the breeze”!
If after a few years they are not flowering as prolifically as you would like, it may be time to give them a good feed, dig them up and replant as they may have become overcrowded.
Daffodils make great cut flowers, lasting about a week in a vase. If you buy a bunch, remove about an inch of stem and put them in clean, cold water containing the recommended amount of floral preservative and no other flowers. Leave them for at least six hours before arranging them with other flowers or foliage. This conditioning is done so that the slime that daffodils emit will not clog the stems of other flowers and decrease their vase life. If you are picking them from your garden they are best picked while still in bud.
Narcissus, daffodils and jonquils are all members of the Narcissus genus. Most people recognise jonquils as having several flowers per stem and a very strong perfume. There are about 50 species of daffodils, mostly native to the western Mediterranean area, but today we also have about 25,000 cultivars.
So, go to your preferred nursery or get a catalogue and plan a spot in the garden or a pot of colour to brighten the spring.
