Growing Daffodils: Planting Depth, Divisions and the Six-Week Rule

Contents

• Daffodil, narcissus or jonquil: what is the difference?
• When and how deep do you plant daffodil bulbs?
• Site, soil and naturalising in grass
• Daffodils in pots and containers
• The thirteen daffodil divisions in plain language
• A succession plan for eight weeks of daffodils
• Feeding, deadheading and the six-week rule
• Why have my daffodils stopped flowering?
• How to divide a congested clump, step by step
• Narcissus bulb fly, basal rot and other problems
• Toxicity to pets, and why deer and voles leave daffodils alone
• Cut daffodils and the problem with tulips
• Zone and timing chart
• Common mistakes
• Frequently asked questions

Daffodil, narcissus or jonquil: what is the difference?

Three names used interchangeably, meaning different things.

Narcissus is the genus

Narcissus is the botanical name for the whole genus. Anything with a cup or trumpet set in a ring of petals is a narcissus: the big trumpets, pheasant's eyes, scented jonquils, doubles, wild species. Registered cultivars passed 26,000 long ago.

Daffodil is the same thing, in English

Daffodil is simply the common English name for Narcissus. Every narcissus is a daffodil and the reverse. Some growers reserve "daffodil" for the big trumpets, but that is trade habit, not botany. The wild trumpet species is Narcissus pseudonarcissus, the Lent lily, and the large trumpet hybrids are bred from it.

Jonquil is one division only

Jonquil is where loose talk causes mistakes. A true jonquil belongs to division 7: one to five small flowers per stem, narrow rush-like leaves rather than flat, and a strong sweet scent. 'Pipit' and 'Sun Disc' are jonquils. In parts of the southern United States every daffodil is called a jonquil, so advice about "jonquils" may not mean the rush-leaved kind.

One more name: pheasant's eye, or poet's narcissus, is Narcissus poeticus. Pure white petals, a very short yellow disc edged in red, a powerful scent, and the last daffodil of the season.

When and how deep do you plant daffodil bulbs?

Timing: as soon as the bulbs arrive

Daffodil bulbs root as soon as they sit in moist soil above about 10°C (50°F), and those roots must be there before the ground freezes. In zone 3 that means late August into September, in zone 4 September to mid October, in zones 5 and 6 until late October or mid November.

Later planting works, but the first spring's flowers are smaller, and bulb quality drops fast after mid November. Found a forgotten bag in the garage? Plant it anyway.

Depth: 15 cm (6 in) to the base of the bulb

The rule is two to three times the height of the bulb, measured to the base and not the tip. For a standard bulb about 5 cm (2 in) tall that is 12–15 cm (5–6 in). Go to 18 cm (7 in) in light sand, 12 cm (5 in) in heavy clay.

Too shallow is the commonest error, and it causes something specific: the bulb splits into many small offsets instead of growing larger, and offsets give leaves without flowers. Shallow bulbs also suffer more from drought and frost heave.

Spacing: 10–15 cm (4–6 in)

Ten centimetres gives an instant dense clump and needs dividing in four to five years; fifteen lasts twice as long. Miniatures go at 8 cm (3 in). Never plant in rows: three to seven bulbs at uneven spacing reads as self-sown.

Step by step

1. Squeeze every bulb: firm and heavy is right. A soft base, a mouldy smell or a hole in the neck means discard.
2. Dig one wide hole for the whole drift, not a hole per bulb. Faster, and the depth comes out even.
3. Loosen the base and mix in bone meal or a scoop of compost per square metre. No fresh manure; it invites rot.
4. Set the bulbs nose up, 10–15 cm apart, bases 15 cm (6 in) below the surface.
5. Backfill, firm gently and water thoroughly so the soil closes around the bulbs.
6. Mark the drift with a label, or you will dig into it next spring.
7. In zones 3 and 4 mulch with 3–5 cm (1–2 in) of shredded leaves against freeze and thaw.

Depth order matters when several kinds go in together: daffodils deeper than crocus, shallower than crown imperial. The basics are in flower bulbs, the calendar in when to plant spring bulbs.

Site, soil and naturalising in grass

Daffodils flower before deciduous trees leaf out, so a spot in deep shade in July is full sun in April. That is why they work under birch, cherry and apple.

Drainage decides it

The one thing a daffodil will not take is standing water in summer while the bulb is dormant. Wet soil in July means basal rot in August. On clay or in a hollow, raise the bed 15 cm (6 in) or add grit. Humus-rich free-draining soil at pH 6.0–7.0 is ideal.

Naturalising in grass

Naturalising means the bulbs multiply on their own, year after year. In grass it works, but on two conditions.

The first is depth: 15–18 cm (6–7 in) in turf, deeper than in a border, because turf roots take the moisture in the top 10 cm. A shallow bulb in grass splits itself to pieces within a few years.

The second is mowing. The grass cannot be cut until the foliage yellows, six weeks after flowering. 'February Gold' releases the mower by late May in zone 5; pheasant's eye holds it into July. Choose early cultivars for lawns.

Method: scatter the bulbs and plant them where they land. Cut an H in the turf, fold back the flaps, set three to five bulbs underneath and tread down. Twelve bulbs is the minimum for a drift to read as a drift.

The best naturalisers are the trumpets, large-cupped, cyclamineus and poeticus; the worst are the doubles and big florist cultivars, which decline in grass after three years. To build a border instead, see how to plan a flower bed.

Daffodils in pots and containers

In a pot you plant closer and shallower, because it only has to look full for one season. Set the bulbs 2–3 cm (1 in) apart and cover with 5–8 cm of compost. A 25 cm (10 in) pot takes 10–12 standard bulbs. Mix potting compost with a quarter sand, and check the drainage holes.

Winter is the hard part. A pot freezes right through, while ground soil freezes only from above. Stand it in an unheated garage, a root cellar, or against a house wall wrapped in burlap, and keep the compost barely moist. Hold it between 0 and 7°C (32–45°F) for about fourteen weeks. Bring it in when the shoots are 5 cm (2 in); flowers follow three weeks later.

Bulbs that flowered in a pot are spent: plant them into a border straight after flowering and let them recover for two years, or discard them. For another bulb grown indoors, see the guide to amaryllis care.

The thirteen daffodil divisions in plain language

The Royal Horticultural Society sorts daffodils into thirteen divisions. The number earns its keep in a catalogue: it tells you the flower shape, roughly the height, whether it is scented and roughly when it blooms. For divisions 1 to 3 the key is the cup length against the petals.

• Division 1, trumpet. One flower per stem, trumpet as long as or longer than the petals.
• Division 2, large-cupped. Cup more than a third but shorter than the petals. The best-selling group.
• Division 3, small-cupped. Cup no more than a third of the petals. Flat, elegant, often late.
• Division 4, double. Petals or cup doubled. Heavy in rain, needs shelter.
• Division 5, triandrus. Two or more nodding flowers per stem, petals swept back.
• Division 6, cyclamineus. Petals strongly reflexed, flower at an acute angle to the stem. Earliest, best in grass.
• Division 7, jonquilla. One to five flowers per stem, rush-like leaves, strongly scented.
• Division 8, tazetta. Three to twenty small fragrant flowers on a stout stem. Least hardy, zone 5 up.
• Division 9, poeticus. Pheasant's eye. White petals, a very short red-rimmed disc, last of all.
• Division 10, bulbocodium. Hoop petticoat: the cup dominates, the petals are almost nothing. Small and tender.
• Division 11, split-corona. Cup split more than halfway, like two layers of petals.
• Division 12, other cultivars. Anything fitting nowhere else. 'Tête-à-Tête' lands here.
• Division 13, species. The wild species themselves, including N. pseudonarcissus.

Cultivar chart: flowering period, height, scent and naturalising

Timings are for zone 5: subtract a week in zone 6, add one in zone 4 and two in zone 3.

A succession plan for eight weeks of daffodils

Most gardeners buy one bag of one cultivar, plant it at once and get twelve days of flowers. Pick five from different parts of the chart above and you get eight weeks for the same work, dated here for zone 5.

Put the early cultivars where you see them from a window, because nobody wanders the garden in early April for fun. Put the late ones where the foliage can stay until July, not in a bed you want full of annuals in May.

Feeding, deadheading and the six-week rule

Feeding

A daffodil builds next year's flower during the weeks its leaves are green after blooming. That is when it needs feeding, not in autumn and not as the buds appear. Scatter a handful of high-potassium fertiliser per square metre as the flowers fade, and water it in.

Avoid high-nitrogen feeds and fresh manure: nitrogen produces soft foliage and raises the risk of basal rot. Bone meal acts too slowly to help in spring. On lean sand feed every year; in decent soil, every other year.

Deadhead the flower, nothing else

Pinch the flower head off as soon as it flops. A daffodil allowed to set seed puts much of the summer's energy into a seed pod instead of the bulb. Leave the stem: it is green and photosynthesising.

The six-week rule, and why you must never tie the foliage

The leaves have to stay green for at least six weeks after flowering, ideally eight, and best of all until they yellow on their own. During those weeks the bulb moves back everything it needs for next spring. Cut early and you get leaves without flowers; after two such seasons the clump is blind.

Knotting the leaves, or folding them over with an elastic band, does the same damage more slowly. A knotted bundle has perhaps a third of its leaf area in the light, and shades itself as well.

Three fixes for the untidy phase: plant the daffodils behind daylilies, hostas or hardy geraniums, which hide the foliage in May; use low early cultivars in lawns; or leave the late ones somewhere rough until July. Companions are in the guide to bee friendly plants.

One more thing about those six weeks: a dry spell makes the leaves die back early and the bulb never refills. In a spring drought, give 20 litres per square metre (0.5 in) a week while the leaves are green.

Why have my daffodils stopped flowering?

A clump with plenty of leaves and no flowers is called blind. It is the commonest daffodil complaint and almost always fixable. The table works from symptom to cause, since the causes leave different clues.

A shortcut: gradual decline over five to ten years is congestion; sudden decline is aftercare or a pest.

How to divide a congested clump, step by step

Dividing is the only real maintenance daffodils ask for, and it gives free plants: twenty bulbs can become sixty in five years.

1. Work when the foliage starts to yellow, usually late June to mid July, while you can still find the clump.
2. Dig a ring 20 cm (8 in) outside the outermost leaves and lift the mass from below with a fork. The bulbs sit deeper than you expect.
3. Shake the soil off gently onto a tarp.
4. Break the offsets away by hand where they are loose. Never force, never cut. Offsets that hold firm stay attached.
5. Sort into three piles: flowering size over 12 cm circumference, small ones needing a year or two, and soft or holed discards.
6. Replant the large ones at once, 15 cm (6 in) deep and 10–15 cm (4–6 in) apart.
7. Line the small ones out in a spare corner or raised bed and forget them for two years.
8. To store them, dry them a few days in airy shade and keep them dark and cool in a paper bag, never plastic.

Toxicity to pets, and why deer and voles leave daffodils alone

The whole plant is poisonous, and that is one of its best features in the garden. The same chemistry applies to pets.

What the poison is

Daffodils contain the alkaloid lycorine throughout, most of it in the bulb, plus needle-shaped calcium oxalate crystals in the tissue and the sap. Lycorine causes vomiting, drooling and abdominal pain; the crystals burn the mouth at once.

Dogs and cats

Both can be seriously ill after eating a bulb, leaves or flowers, or drinking vase water that held daffodils. Dogs that dig are the usual accident. Signs appear within hours: drooling, vomiting, diarrhoea, lethargy. Call a vet and take a piece of the plant.

Why voles, mice and deer will not touch the bulbs

This is the practical payoff, and it is rarely explained. A vole biting a tulip bulb gets clean starch. A vole biting a daffodil bulb gets lycorine plus a mouthful of microscopic oxalate crystals that prickle like glass fibre. It stops at once and learns the smell. The same holds for mice, rabbits and deer, which browse by scent and avoid the sharp onion-and-grass smell of the leaves.

So daffodils are the one spring bulb you can plant in vole country without wire baskets. They also work defensively: a tight ring around a group of tulips often pushes the vole runs outside it. Not a fence, but less damage. Where it fails, use pots or baskets, covered in growing tulips. One exception: slugs ignore the lycorine.

Zone and timing chart

Planting time depends on when the soil stops being warm enough to root, flowering on when it warms again. Both shift about three weeks between zone 3 and zone 6.

In zone 3 and cold zone 4, cultivar choice matters more than technique. Stick to the hardiest groups, the trumpets, large-cupped, cyclamineus and poeticus, and skip tazettas and big doubles. Deeper planting at 18 cm (7 in) and a leaf mulch do the rest.

Common mistakes

• Planting too shallow. Measure to the base of the bulb. A bulb at 8 cm splits into offsets instead of growing.
• Cutting or tying the foliage early. Six weeks of green leaves is the minimum. A knot damages as shears do, only slower.
• Feeding in autumn or with nitrogen. Feed as the flowers fade, with high-potassium fertiliser.
• Leaving clumps too long. After five to ten years they crowd. Divide every four to six years.
• Wet ground in summer. The bulb is dormant from July; standing water means basal rot.
• One cultivar, all at once. Twelve days of flowers instead of eight weeks, same money.
• Daffodils in a vase with tulips straight after picking. The sap costs tulips days of vase life.
• Not labelling the drift. Almost everyone forks through a clump in April.

Frequently asked questions

How deep should I plant daffodil bulbs?
Fifteen centimetres, or 6 inches, measured to the base of the bulb, which is two to three times the bulb's own height. Miniatures such as 'Tête-à-Tête' go at 8–10 cm (3–4 in). Use 18 cm in light sand, 12 cm in heavy clay, and 15–18 cm (6–7 in) in turf.

When should I plant daffodil bulbs?
Late August into September in zone 3, September to mid October in zone 4, and mid September to late October in zones 5 and 6. The bulb has to root before the ground freezes. Later planting works, but the first spring's flowers are smaller and later.

What is the difference between a daffodil, a narcissus and a jonquil?
Daffodil and narcissus are the same thing: narcissus is the botanical genus, daffodil the English common name. Jonquil is narrower, meaning only division 7, with one to five scented flowers per stem and narrow rush-like leaves. 'Pipit' and 'Sun Disc' are true jonquils.

How long do I have to leave daffodil leaves after flowering?
At least six weeks, ideally eight, and best of all until they yellow on their own. The bulb is building next year's flower during that time. Never knot the leaves or fold them over: that cuts the light-catching area just as shears do. Remove the flower head only.

Why are my daffodils all leaves and no flowers?
Three causes account for nearly all of it: the clump is congested after five to ten years, the bulbs went in too shallow, or the foliage came off early for a season or two. If only a few bulbs give grassy leaves and no flower, suspect narcissus bulb fly and lift them.

Do I need to lift daffodil bulbs for winter?
No. Daffodils are perennial and hardy through zone 3, and they improve where left alone. The only job is dividing congested clumps every four to six years. Bulbs that flowered in a pot are the exception; plant those into a border after flowering.

Do deer and voles eat daffodil bulbs?
No. Every part contains the alkaloid lycorine plus needle-shaped calcium oxalate crystals that burn the mouth. Voles, mice, rabbits and deer leave them alone, so daffodils are the one spring bulb you can plant without wire baskets in vole country. A ring round a tulip drift often shifts the runs outside it.

Can I put daffodils in the same vase as tulips?
Not straight after picking. The sap from cut daffodil stems carries alkaloids and sugars that cost tulips several days of vase life. Stand the daffodils alone in their own water for twelve to twenty-four hours, then move them into the arrangement without re-cutting.

Want a reminder of when to plant bulbs and when the foliage can come off in your zone? It comes with our newsletter, with the season's other garden jobs.