If you have a small garden like a town garden and want to grow daffodils, here are my tips on how best to do it, learned over the years by trial and error. When we have no meadow, no mossy bank, no swathes, no fields, no seas of daffodils, how can we have a splash of yellow and deal with them when they’re over?
Daffodils in a terracotta pot
Firstly, recall that I look out the window at every inch of my front and back garden every day of the year. There are no hidden bits or out of the way corners. Everything is visible. So the questions is, what do I want to look out on?
daffodils in pots
I couldn’t live without daffodils and I wrote here about how I choose the short early ones because I want to see yellow in February as soon as possible after winter. You can of course have daffodils in April but I don’t buy those. By April the garden is a jungle of new growth and daffodils would be lost in it.
This year I had them in pots at the back door for us to look at and in troughs out the front for passers by to enjoy.
Daffodils in a small garden
Wonderful splash of yellow in February
They flowered from early February to mid April and looked wonderful.
BUT what to do when the flowers are over. If I want to leave the bulbs in to flower next year they would have to be left to die down naturally taking 2 months. Do I want to look at this picture below for 2 months while the leaves die down?
Daffodil leaves after the flowers are over
No, I don’t. And I’d like the space for something else.
But here below is a pot where the daffodils have very thin leaves and the other things in the pot will distract the eye till they die down so I can leave them in.
Daffodil leaves less obvious in a mixed pot
Here below is a pot full of daffodils which are now over. I need the pot for other things.
spent daffodils don’t look great
For a pot like this, I lift them out with a fork or just tug a little, easy because they are not deep. Here they are just after lifting.
Daffodils lift out easily from their containers
Some daffodil bulbs have thin delicate leaves
I throw them in a pile in my sunniest corner.
Daffodil leaves dying down in hot sun
The leaves turn yellow as they age, soaking up the sun’s energy to feed the bulb for next year. When the leaves have disintegrated I’ll keep the bulbs dry in the shed and replant in September.
Here below is how they look today. Fading away nicely.
Leaves soaking up the sun to feed the bulb
I can’t stress enough how uplifting it is to look out at a splash of little yellow daffodils in February when days are still short and Spring seems weeks away. Those early varieties are quite cheap to buy in bulk and say 50 in a couple of pots will do the trick. I hope you’ll make a plan to order some for planting in September – gardening being all about looking ahead.
Suggested sources: bulbs.co.uk blomsbulbs.com
I am loving pot gardening Your pots are a lovely shape and size.
Thanks Beverley, they’re not too big and not too small.
A great post. Would you mind if I shared your tips with our gardening club? We’re still planting daffodils here in New Zealand as the lock down has meant delivery delays, usually they’d all be in the ground by Easter.
Oh how wonderful! Do please share my tips and maybe also my previous blog about which varieties to choose if you want early ones, which for us came out in early February to see us through the dark days before the clocks changed at the end of March. Lucky you being in NZ and I hope your autumn and winter aren’t too harsh. I’m choosing from the catalogues right now for next year. Do keep in touch if you like, best wishes, Julie
Do you cover the bulbs with soil while fading or do the just lie naked in the sun?
Lisbeth
They lie naked in the sun in a pile and today the leaves are yellow and nearly ready to pull away from the bulb whereas those left in the borders are still green. Hope that helps, Julie
Thank you. I will do the same now.
Such a good idea with the wonderful daffodils! I have to buy some new pots…
That sounds good, pots are such a good investment aren’t they. I’ve had mine for 30 years or so. Hope you find something you really like. Thanks for your comment. Julie
Please can you recommend some short early daffs to plant in pots that you have particularly enjoyed?
Yes, let me have a think about it and I’ll come back to you. Short early daffs are a great idea.
Carol looking in my garden notes I would recommend Jetfire, Tete a tete, Topolino, all dwarf and early and really lovely. Th bulbs are small like a grape and sos easy to push into pots with your finger. Hope you enjoy them, Julie