D^&*$# Daffodils

We all know I really like daffodils. Or, as I like to call them, DDs, short for d&*^%$ daffodils. I mean this in a good way-really! I have talked about them before and the fact I feel I must divide them each and every year and what kind of effort it takes, but I haven't REALLY talked about them.

Now is the time because guess what I do EVERY single day in the garden? Yup, divide DDs. I have literally planted thousands of bulbs, including not just daffodils but all types of bulbs. Because I want thousands more in order to cover what may end up being every single square inch of my one acre property, I divide my DDs each year in order to spread them around. I do not include dividing daffodils in the number of bulbs I have planted. No, that would be a bit too easy.

You see, planting bulbs means simply digging a hole to the proper depth, sprinkling a bit of bulb booster or bone meal in it, and dropping in the bulb and covering it with soil. That is one thing.

Dividing, on the other hand involves a bit more work. You now have to dig the clump, all the while hoping you don't cut off some of the bulbs and their foliage, use muscles and fingernails to pull apart the tightly wrapped clumps into individual bulbs, find a spot for the now 20 bulbs versus only one clump, THEN complete the process for planting bulbs. The digging and planting is not really a problem for me, finding new spots for the new bulbs is the real problem.

I have this very bad habit of planting plants on top of plants, or very close to plants, or where I think no plants are (at least not at the time). This can be stressful to both me and the plants. For instance, right now I cannot see the hostas. I KNOW there are hostas there somewhere but not sure where. I cannot always tell where they should be when they are dormant. Digging DDs into their clump is not a welcomed intrusion by the hosta. I then get a bit edgy when I realize what I have done to the hosta. What a pain finding homes for all the plants-not just DDs.

What is a gardener to do? Stop dividing and moving around plants and let the DDs grow at their will? Keep bare spots? Accept the losses and pay for them later? What would you do?

Maybe I should quit planting for awhile and see what is growing. The problem then reveals itself fully. EVERYTHING is growing, just not at the same time and everything does not bloom at the same time. I wish my garden could be covered with daffodils entirely when they bloom, next will come the tulips, then dianthus, then salvias, then coreopsis, then peonies....finally camellias-you get the idea? How could all those plants possibly occupy the same spaces? Back to the DDs and dividing.

in the garden....dividing.