My understanding is that all parts of the daffodil plant, from bulb to flower and leaves are toxic and no animal will eat them. That's one of the reasons why I grow them here in the middle of the woods surrounded by deer.

 

I don't really have any obscure facts.

 

Jonquils are indeed among the most fragrant. In the daffodil world; we categorize by the 13 divisions (you can find these illustrated with drawings at www.daffodil use.org). The first three are based on length of the cup/corona, the 4th is doubles, and most of the rest are based on which wild species the new cultivar is genetically based on. So a jonquil is a division 7 and is usually fragrant and usually has more than one flower per stem.

 

The main key to growing them is to plant in a sunny spot that does not remain wet and always leave the foliage intact until it yellows and falls down. Don't do any cute Martha-Stewart tricks like braiding the foliage into cute animal figures. The leaf surface does a photosynthetic reaction to make next year's flowers. A little 5-10-10 fertilizer sprinkled during active growing doesn't hurt either--but notice the low first number (the nitrogen)--don't go higher than that. Once the folliage is down and yellow, you can just pull it off and throw it in the compost pile.

 

Hybridizers are actively creating new cultivars in the US, UK, and Northern Ireland, and Australia and New Zealand.

 

There are also miniatre daffodils in most of the divisions--many of them are typically harder to grow, though.

Bill Lee

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeaa0088@aol.com
To: perennials@hort.net
Sent: Wed, Jun 15, 2011 11:08 am
Subject: Daffodils

Hi, Bill...are there any obscure facts about selecting, planting or growing these most welcome plants? I think I read that rodents are not as fond of these are they are some other bulbs. I understand that jonquils can be fragrant - do you have any to recommend?

 

 

Joanie Anderson

35 mi. north of Chicago

Zone 5a

 

 

 

In a message dated 6/14/2011 4:11:45 P.M. Central Daylight Time, b*@aol.com writes:

Yep, still daffodils, Joanie. In fact my barn is full of bulbs right now, drying off, and our local club will be selling them in the fall. These were harvested at Oakwood Daffodils in Niles, MI, where a bunch of us help the grower there and get lots of bulbs in return.

 

I was regional VP of the American Daffodil Society for a while and I also edited their quarterly journal for some time.

Bill Lee

-----Original Message-----
From: J*@aol.com
To: p*@hort.net
Sent: Tue, Jun 14, 2011 3:43 pm
Subject: Re: Pine bark fines

Hi, Bill...are you still especially passionate about daffodils? Or was it another plant? Recall you headed up the regional society for same.

 

Joanie Anderson
Z. 5a
35 mi. north of Chicago

 

 

 

In a message dated 6/14/2011 12:25:12 P.M. Central Daylight Time, b*@aol.com writes:

I live in the middle fo the woods and one year I shredded a lot of small branches that had collected around the place. When I used them for mulch, I discovered that they appeared to suck all the nitrogen out of the soil as they decomposed and I lost many plants. However, another factor may have been that some of the branches were from black walnut trees.

Bill Lee in Cincinnati

-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher P. Lindsey <lindsey@mallorn.com>
To: p*@hort.net
Sent: Tue, Jun 14, 2011 1:01 pm
Subject: Pine bark fines

----- Original Message ----- >  > Chris....my experience with chipping/shredding branches, etc., is > that the result is very coarse, even too coarse to use as mulch. > But, that might be just the chipper/shredders I've seen used. I'd > also be interested in knowing if others have found this a useful > tool for making soil amendments and what type of machine is best.  It's something that I'll have to experiment with.  I still prefer mixing my own soil when potting up plants -- it's so much less expensive, seems to hold up well, and I can tailor it to the needs of a plant (i.e. hardwood bark fines for non-acid- lovers, pine bark fines for acid lovers, extra chicken grit when more drainage is needed, etc.)  So for my use running mulch through a chipper multiple times might be effective, but that may not be true for needing enough to cover a 20x20 bed.  :)  Chris  --------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off this list, send email to m*@hort.net with the message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS