Narcissus will always have a soft spot in my heart now. When we very first looked at this property they were blooming and one of our children picked a couple which I brought home. We left this property thinking that it was perfect enough for us except it was just much too much work for us. I went home with a heavy heart, that only those who’ve been through a long, roller-coaster home search can relate. But I put the flowers in a tiny vase in my kitchen and got on with life. The smell however, from those those few lovely blooms was enough to knock you over every time I walked into the room. It was like heaven.
The blooms soon faded and we soon returned to give the property a second look. We took a deep breath, held hands, declared ourselves partially crazy and bought our home. Each year I look forward to them blooming to remind me of when we very first found this place.
There are about three twenty foot rows of various narcissus bulbs at the front of our property. There are also glanthus (snowdrops) mixed in with the narcissus all tucked into straight rows. This past winter, however I noticed that they needed a good thinning out. In the past couple of weeks I’ve been taking spare moments to dig up the bulbs and placing them in 5 gallon containers. With only two rows dug up, I have 15 gallons of bulbs! Yesterday I started the job of replanting them. I am using the recently dug furrows to plant the majority of them, plus adding a few more rows as well.
You may remember that last year I thinned out one row and planted narcissus bulbs in a perimeter around one of our vegetable gardens to ward out gophers. They are toxic to gophers so the hope is that will keep the pesky critters out of our garden. This year with so many to disperse about, other garden beds will get the same treatment. I also hope to scatter them around the front fence and a few other places.
Narcissus aren’t terribly picky garden residents. Plant them three times as deep as they are tall, about four-five inches apart. Give them a blanket of compost in the fall, full sun and a winters worth of rain and you will be rewarded in late winter with beautiful blooms. This year, if I can keep the bulb planting momentum up, there is hope that we’ll have beautiful blooms scattered everywhere this winter.
Living in Florida, I don’t have the opportunity to enjoy narcissus, but they are beautiful. And I know they are twice as beautiful to you, as you have that lovely story, where they inspired you to move into your home. I love ready about your “adventures” – Keep them coming.
15 gallons, holy crap thats a lot! Worst case, if you can’t plant them all, you could sell them. I just bought bulbs at Harmony at .99 EACH!
I recently planted daffodils around my fruit trees. I read in some permaculture blog or book that they are a good way to keep weeds and pests away from the trunk. I totally half-assed the planting, and didn’t get them as deep as I probably should have, but we’ll see how it goes!
Hi Melissa, I’ve thought of that. Selling them. Or at least giving them away, but I have no idea which bulb is which. I haven’t marked them so it’s sort of pot luck at this point. Maybe, just maybe this year I’ll mark them when they bloom!