Marianne's Response

Daffodils aren’t blooming

I have several clumps of daffodils—sun, heavy sun, shade, and part shade—and not any of them ever bloom. They are lightly fertilized once a year. Friends down the street have wonderful blooms. What can I do?

Posted by on March 20, 2015

Marianne's Response

Sounds like either your daffs need to be divided up or that the foliage has not been allowed to ripen, turn yellow, and die off in the spring. If you remove the ripe foliage too soon the bulbs will not bloom. Dig a few bulbs now and see if there are baby bulblets attached to the mother bulb. Remove these and give the mother bulb her own space free from neighboring bulbs. This year do not fertilize your daffodils as they could be getting too much high nitrogen plant food. Give the lazy bulbs one more year to perform and then pull them up and start fresh with the largest daffodil bulbs you can find planted in the fall for a glorious spring bloom. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti