Expert: Long Island Gardener - 4/24/2007

Question
Over Easter weekend my family visited with my father-in-law and he told us he thought the daffodils in his yard needed thinning and asked us to take whatever we wanted. My husband and I loved the idea of watching some of his mother's daffodils fill our yard next spring. (She is deceased, and was very fond of her gardens, so we thought it would be a wonderful way to remember her in the spring.)He lives in Maryland. We live in northern Virginia. We dug several large clumps of daffodils and tiger lilies up. Half of the daffodils and small, delicate pale yellow and the other half are large, bright yellow flowers. I was able to plant the lilies fine and they are growing, unfortunately I have not planted the daffodils-they are in my garage in their orginal clumps of dirt. The leaves have started to turn yellow-is it too late to save them? Is it possible to cut the leaves down to the bulb and store the bulbs in the fridge until after the first frost next winter? (I am sure it is
quite obvious, but I am a novice gardener?:)
Thank you for your time!
Bonnie Nichols

Answer
Are we feeling a little conflicted here about these Daffodils, Bonnie?  Pass the Kleenex -- Your poor mother-in-law would faint if she could read what you just told me.  This is a recipe for ... well, perhaps not disaster, but if you wanted to dump those Daffodils, this was the perfect modus operandi.

Whatever you do, DO NOT CUT OFF THE LEAVES.

You MUST get these in the ground asap. It sounds like they were already in full bloom when you dug these up and boxed them to your house -- traumatic for any plant, but then you kept them in the garage, Bonnie.

There is apparently nothing obvious here whatsoever.  But how could you know?  Your mother-in-law did not pass this care and culture information on.  And this is what happens when we pour our hearts into a garden, digging and weeding and planning and pruning, without ever mentioning to anyone else what is going on.

Bonnie, you absolutely, positively MUST get those Daffodils into the ground asap.  If not the ground, get them into pots.  Put them in light.  Water heavily, let it drain, and water again -- not with ice cold water but with room temperature water.  Light means FULL SUN.  Get them onto the roof if you must but give them as much light as you can.

If they survive, this is what will happen.

Next year, the foliage will appear, and there will be no flowers.

That's because spring bulbs are little factories where the flowers are built from scratch.  Without being able to operate (i.e., Photosynthesis), those factories are stuck.  Meanwhile, last year's flower is in full swing.  The factories are working hard to keep the bulb alive.  They can't possibly squeeze in next year's flower order on this tight schedule you have put them on.  So there will probably be a year with leaves and no flowers -- the factory will be there making the NEXT year's blooms, but this year's production was halted in your garage.

You were VERY smart to get 'clumps of dirt' around the roots.  This will go far in assisting those Daffodils with recovery.  Roots are covered all over with tiny 'hairs' that maximize uptake of nutrients and water; moving a plant (or bulb) without soil destroys virtually all of the root hairs while keeping the roots intact, but the roots don't have the ability to support the upper growth on their own completely, so the plants almost always wilt.  Most people refer to this condition as 'shock', but it's merely a matter of root hair destruction and a failure to get enough water into the plant as a result.

Which is why you should plant these asap and water them.  Quick.

Now, Bonnie, if you were going to fry these Daffodils and eat them, removing the leaves a la Julia Child and storing them in the refrigerator makes perfect sense.  Let me guess:  You love to cook?

You don't want to eat these.  Theyre poisonous.  That's why squirrels won't eat them.  Tulips, different story.  Crocus, Scilla, Chionodoxa, Lilies, different story.

By the way, you probably dug up some Daylilies.  These would be Hemerocallis, not Lilium.  Please confirm -- they need different culture and although you did not ask, I want to tell you how to grow these.

Bonnie, I have to tell you that these Daffodils are harbingers of spring and once you get them in the ground they can be very, very easy.  In your mother-in-law's case, she probably had them multiplying, or even naturalizing in her garden.  It's a wonderful thing, to have those outside, and you can cut them for a vase and not worry about any damage to the plant.  These are worth keeping.  These are worth getting up early in the morning and plunging into a full sun spot in the yard, where you and see them from a window indoors next year.

Let them wilt in the ground, let the foliage turn yellow in the ground, and do not remove it.  Keep scissors away from those bulbs.

Maybe you'll get lucky.  Maybe your mother-in-law will wave some magic wand, and some will bloom.

You won't know unless you try.

Good luck.  Please keep me posted.  Any questions, I'm here.  Thanks for writing.