Naturalizing Daffodils

Most rational people would do nearly anything to avoid mowing a lawn.

After all, one indication of insanity is the endless repetition of a particular behavior with the expectation that the outcome will somehow change. In a perpetual cycle of tending grass, the average homeowner fertilizes, waters, weeds, aerates, and mows, ’round and ’round again, secretly hoping for some beneficent intervention, but knowing that‚Äîin the end‚Äîeach summer Saturday will be given over to aberration. Only a few victims of this pattern of deviant behavior have managed to escape.

They have planted daffodils.

Daffodils (Narcissus species) are among the most cost-effective, pest-free and resilient plants available. They will thrive in any region where there is a distinct winter season. Deer avoid them, and they will grow amidst a myriad of other plants‚Äîincluding grass. Daffodils offer the perfect excuse for NOT mowing a lawn…at least for the first several weeks of spring. The trick is to stop planting these versatile flowers in tended beds, like most people do. Bury the bulbs in a lawn in the fall, and the following spring will see the tough knuckles of daffodil foliage pushing through the turf. These harbingers of vernal resurrection soon give way to the broad, delicate leaves that are characteristic of the genus, followed by flower stalks that eventually send forth a display of bell-shaped and long-lived blooms. The flowers glow from within the gradually lengthening lawn, defying anyone to chop them down.

With luck, the mower can be left in the garage until the flowers have faded and the foliage has died down.

While daffodils come in an array of colors and forms‚Äîand many are strongly fragrant‚Äîsome varieties are better suited to the process called ‚”naturalizing” (a gardener’s term for ‚”letting things go”). Not surprisingly, many of the best daffodils for naturalizing are those that have been around the longest; years of hybridizing and cross-breeding have given us some dazzling Narcissus specimens, but the oldest cultivars are among the hardiest. They have established themselves in environments where they’ve had to compete with other plants for space and nutrients. They also show the greatest tendency to repopulate and persist in the areas where they are planted. Varieties that lend themselves to naturalizing include: Ice Follies, Tete-a-Tete, Falconet, Flower Record, Delibes, Unsurpassable, Barrett Browning, Fruit Cup, Scarlet Gem, Geranium, Cheerfulness, Peeping Tom, Jack Snipe, Mount Hood, Spellbinder, Carlton, and Viking.

Daffodils reproduce most efficiently by forming new bulbs that divide from the parent bulb; this should be kept in mind when choosing an area for naturalizing. Since they’ll be left in one place for several years, bulbs should be buried farther apart than what the planting directions recommend: tripling the distance is a good rule of thumb. Bulbs should be planted at a depth equal to at least three times the height of the bulb, with the root ends down. A bit of sand, peat moss, or potting soil can be tossed into the hole to satisfy the ‚”amending urges” of the compulsive gardener, and most experts recommend adding a bit of bone meal as well.

In a few years, one can transform an entire hillside into a flush of spring color by planting a drift of well-chosen daffodil bulbs. And, with any luck, the lawnmower can be left in the garage for many weeks after everyone else in the neighborhood has slipped into derangement.