Archive for the 'Daffodils' Category

Spring Bulbs

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These pictures show some of the spring bulbs that have been blooming in our garden in the past few weeks. The hyacinths in the top picture were stunning at their peak about two weeks ago when I took this picture, especially the blue ones. Right now, the multicolored tulips in the second and third pictures are in full bloom.

Spring bulbs such as tulips, hyacinths, dutch irises, and daffodils are so beautiful and fun to grow. They make a wonderful landscape display for a few weeks in the springtime, because they tend to bloom at the same time and have such vibrant colors. I have gotten rave reviews from the neighbors about the color display.

Our climate doesn’t seem to get enough cold weather in the wintertime to stimulate tulips and hyacinths to continue blooming year after year. Freezes here are infrequent. Some sources say that one should dig up these bulbs and put them in the refrigerator for a month. Instead, I have been growing them as annuals, replanting them each fall and discarding some of the old ones. Our hyacinths usually bloom again more than one year, but they produce less flowers each year.

The fourth picture above showing the purple tulips and daffodils was taken in March 2008 of the same flower bed. I decided to diversify the color range of tulips I planted for this year’s display.

The same daffodils bloomed again back in February this year and have already faded away. Daffodils don’t seem to need much winter chill. They will bloom again year after year without any special care in our climate. I have seen them blooming along roads and highways in our area, obviously growing wild.

April 11 2009 | Daffodils and Hyacinths and Tulips | Comments Off on Spring Bulbs

Daffodil Blooms Signal Spring is Near

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The daffodils I planted back in the fall of 2007 started to bloom again more than two weeks ago, and they are continuing to hold on to their color and shape. Daffodils are the first plants to start blooming in our yard this year. Nearly everything else is dormant. The yard looks relatively bare (see picture in my last post) so it’s nice to have some early spring color to look at.

Daffodils seem to require virtually no care in our climate. They usually get plenty of rain water in the winter as they are sprouting back to life. By the time the dry season begins in April, daffodils die back to the ground. They don’t seem to require watering while they are dormant. I didn’t water them very often last spring and summer. We received no rain from March through September, but despite the lack of rain, they came back to bloom again for a second time.

Also, daffodils don’t require a large amount of winter cold to bloom year after year like tulips and other types of spring flowering bulbs. We don’t get very much freezing weather here.

A few years ago, I made the mistake of planting daffodils under an eve of the house where they did not receive any rain water. Those daffodils grew back the next year, but they did not bloom. After a few more years, they died. I figured they died because they were not getting any water. I often see daffodils blooming alongside the freeway, so I guessed that they must be low maintenance plants. So I decided to plant more daffodils away from the house where they would receive rain. These are the daffodils in the picture.

February 28 2009 | Daffodils | Comments Off on Daffodil Blooms Signal Spring is Near