In message , Sacha
writes
On 25/2/07 07:26, in article
om, "Dave Poole"
wrote:

Sacha wrote:
Every spring we have daffodils growing on top of the hedges bordering the
lanes near the house. There are masses of them. But this year we've
noticed most particularly that the stems are shorter. Our theory is that
this is because they've come out earlier than usual - anyone else got any
ideas?

I've not noticed this with the daffs growing in local hedgerows, but
most of those growing around here are naturalised garden varieties

I don't think it's an optical illusion because these are growing literally
on top of the hedges and have no other planting with them, other than the
trimmed back twiggy bits of the hedge. It's the normal winter/spring set up

Wild N. pseudonarcissus grow taller if they're growing through dead
ferns/bracken than if there's just very short rabbit-nibbled grass. This
makes sense if you're a daffodil. They don't all flower at once, and
the later ones aren't usually taller.
I don't think yours are short just because they're early, but maybe
because being early means they aren't competing with any other growth,
including their own leaves.

--
Sue ]