When you have dug up those you want to divide, knock off as much soil as you can, and leave the bulbs to dry for a short time in the sun, or on a shelf in a shed or in a cool room. But it is advisable to plant the young bulbs directly they are detached from the old ones.
If possible, when you replant your bulbs, give them a fresh place—or, at any rate, fresh soil. When you cut your Daffodils, never cut many leaves from one plant, because the bulb receives nourishment through its leaves. The flowers may be gathered when in bud, and will come out well and increase in size in water. Many people always send Daffodils by post in bud, as they travel better, take less room, and last longer. Besides, a mixture of fully-open and half-open Daffodils is like spring itself, and gives you pleasure as they change and expand. But the growers tell us that the shops and markets will not buy them in this state, and insist on having the flowers in full bloom.
The Polyanthus-Narcissus has several flowers on one stalk, and it is very fragrant. There are several varieties, and in the South and West of England they are all hardy. In the sheltered parts of Cornwall and the Scilly Isles they come into flower before Christmas, and all through January you see fields of them opening their buds in the winter sun. If you live in a cold part of England, you must give them a sheltered corner and plenty of sand in the soil. Three good kinds are Soleil d’Or, a bright yellow; Grand Monarque, white and pale yellow; and Gloriosa, white and orange. The Polyanthus-Narcissus does better than other kinds in a stiff soil, and it likes a little manure.
The variety of Daffodils in a bulb list is bewildering, but you must learn enough about the leading kinds to choose, for instance, whether you want a huge yellow trumpet, a hoop petticoat, a star, a double, or one of those enchanting tiny ones that would get lost in a mixed border, and must be given a choice corner in your rockery. In this chapter we will give you the names of a few well-known and inexpensive kinds that are effective in a mixed border. When you plant them in this way amongst other flowers, you can put six in a clump, three inches apart and three to five inches deep. They should be placed eighteen inches from the path, well behind your Snowdrops, Crocuses, and dwarf Alpines. You may like to choose those that flower late, and put them near pale blue Hyacinths or deep orange Tulips. In that case, buy Emperor, Empress, or Bicolor. The earliest trumpet Daffodil is Sir Henry Irving; Golden Spur comes a little later. Bicolor Grandis is what the catalogues call ‘the best all-round Daffodil’; Sir Watkin is ‘a giant of noble appearance’; and Horsfieldi is pure white and yellow, the finest of the early Bicolors. All these are single Daffodils.
The Poet’s Narcissus, or the Pheasant-eyed Narcissus, blooms later than the Daffodils. These are what the flower-shops give you when you ask for the single Narcissus, and they have strongly scented, pure white petals, with a short yellow cup that is edged with red. If they like your soil they will increase at a great rate, and if they don’t they will flower the first year, but never again. We have known them spread like a weed in a Yorkshire garden in a good rich loam, and we have seen them doing well in pure sand. At Les Avants, in Switzerland, there are vast fields of them, and when they are in flower the scent is overpowering. They should be gathered just as the buds break, because the sun soon bleaches the lovely orange and yellow of the ‘pheasant eye.’
DAFFODILS.
Hyacinths.
Hyacinths should be planted nine inches deep and six inches apart. Five or six bulbs of the same colour make a pretty clump, and they should be from twelve to eighteen inches from the edge. You may leave them undisturbed year after year, and in good soil they will increase and flower. If you wish to take them up, you must wait till the leaves are dead, and then dry the bulbs carefully in the sun before you store them in sand till the autumn. The offsets, if cultivated in light, rich soil, will flower in three years; but Hyacinths raised in Holland are stronger than any you are likely to raise yourself. Until you are an experienced gardener, we advise you to leave your clumps undisturbed as long as they flower, and to buy new bulbs when you find that your old ones seem exhausted.