1 I have a damp patch in my London garden under a tree, facing the
window. I'd like to grow primula vulgaris there. Do I just scatter
seed? When?

2 The Daffodils that I bought from Safeways at a penny each (thanks
to the advice of this NG) are sproouting all over the garden. So are my
snowdrops and the odd crocus that the squirrel has left. I've just
split some snowdrops, but I'd love all my bulbs to self-seed. Do they
do this, and what proportion is it worth leaving the flowers on for
this to happen?

3 My aged mother (92) tells me there's nothing wrong with cutting
snowdrops for indoors. I'd never disagree with a parent, but is she
right?

Lazarus

--
Remover the rock from the email address

The message
from Lazarus Cooke contains these words:


1 I have a damp patch in my London garden under a tree, facing the
window. I'd like to grow primula vulgaris there. Do I just scatter
seed? When?

Spring. A packet of primrose seeds will cost almost as much as a
plant. Seedlings take several years to flower. For a quicker effect, and
flowers this year, buy a plant in a pot from a GC, and increase it by
division next autumn.

2 The Daffodils that I bought from Safeways at a penny each (thanks
to the advice of this NG) are sproouting all over the garden. So are my
snowdrops and the odd crocus that the squirrel has left. I've just
split some snowdrops, but I'd love all my bulbs to self-seed. Do they
do this, and what proportion is it worth leaving the flowers on for
this to happen?

The snowdrops and crocus will self-seed easily and all the new plants
will be much the same as their parents. I'd leave all their flowers on
for that reason. Narcissi do set seed, but less readily, and when they
eventually flower the new plants are less likely to look like the
parents. I'd nip off the narcissi seedheads when the flowers fade; this
encourages the leaves to die back more quickly. Don't take the leaves
off, they feed next year's flowerbulb.

3 My aged mother (92) tells me there's nothing wrong with cutting
snowdrops for indoors. I'd never disagree with a parent, but is she
right?

Yes, snowdrops make lovely cut flowers (I usually set them off against
ivy leaves or fresh green moss). The honey scent is much more noticable
indoors and you can appreciate the subtlety of form and markings better,
close to. It won't harm the bulbs. You can also cut some of your
daffodil flowers to enjoy indoors.

Janet.

[[ This message was both posted and mailed: see
the "To," "Cc," and "Newsgroups" headers for details. ]]

Janet

Thank you so much for your thorough reply to my questions about bulbs
and primroses.

Tony Knox (aka Lazarus)

--
Remover the rock from the email address

The message
from Lazarus Cooke contains these words:


1 I have a damp patch in my London garden under a tree, facing the
window. I'd like to grow primula vulgaris there. Do I just scatter
seed? When?

Spring. A packet of primrose seeds will cost almost as much as a
plant. Seedlings take several years to flower. For a quicker effect, and
flowers this year, buy a plant in a pot from a GC, and increase it by
division next autumn.

2 The Daffodils that I bought from Safeways at a penny each (thanks
to the advice of this NG) are sproouting all over the garden. So are my
snowdrops and the odd crocus that the squirrel has left. I've just
split some snowdrops, but I'd love all my bulbs to self-seed. Do they
do this, and what proportion is it worth leaving the flowers on for
this to happen?

The snowdrops and crocus will self-seed easily and all the new plants
will be much the same as their parents. I'd leave all their flowers on
for that reason. Narcissi do set seed, but less readily, and when they
eventually flower the new plants are less likely to look like the
parents. I'd nip off the narcissi seedheads when the flowers fade; this
encourages the leaves to die back more quickly. Don't take the leaves
off, they feed next year's flowerbulb.

3 My aged mother (92) tells me there's nothing wrong with cutting
snowdrops for indoors. I'd never disagree with a parent, but is she
right?

Yes, snowdrops make lovely cut flowers (I usually set them off against
ivy leaves or fresh green moss). The honey scent is much more noticable
indoors and you can appreciate the subtlety of form and markings better,
close to. It won't harm the bulbs. You can also cut some of your
daffodil flowers to enjoy indoors.

Janet.

[[ This message was both posted and mailed: see
the "To," "Cc," and "Newsgroups" headers for details. ]]

Janet

Thank you so much for your thorough reply to my questions about bulbs
and primroses.

Tony Knox (aka Lazarus)

--
Remover the rock from the email address

On Wed, 04 Feb 2004 14:20:37 +0000, Lazarus Cooke
wrote:

2 The Daffodils that I bought from Safeways at a penny each (thanks
to the advice of this NG) are sproouting all over the garden. So are my
snowdrops and the odd crocus that the squirrel has left. I've just
split some snowdrops, but I'd love all my bulbs to self-seed. Do they
do this, and what proportion is it worth leaving the flowers on for
this to happen?

While daffs *do* produce seed, many bulbs propogate most easily
through division. After 3-4 years in place, you may notice an
abundance of foliage with few blooms. If you dig, you will find many
bulbs have developed additional 'cousins', like a giant shallot.
Separate these and re-plant. Unfortunately, the ideal time for doing
this is *after* the foliage has died back into invisibility, and you
have no clue where they were/are. Which means either keeping
meticulous records or marking the areas with sticks or labels while
the foliage is still growing.

Getting flowering daffs from seed takes 4-7 years. A bulb division
usually a maximum of 2 yrs, depending on size. I believe my record was
27 bulbs from one (after no lifting for 4-5 years). Of course, many of
these were quite small, but there were at least a dozen good sized
ones well worth re-planting.

Crocus, too, multiply by bulb, and quite enjoy being dug up and
resettled. I've never had a day's luck with tulips. Mine tend to
bloom one year, send up a couple of leaves the next, and then
disappear. Others report certain varieties that reliably re-bloom and
multiply.

The message
from Frogleg contains these words:


While daffs *do* produce seed, many bulbs propogate most easily
through division. After 3-4 years in place, you may notice an
abundance of foliage with few blooms. If you dig, you will find many
bulbs have developed additional 'cousins', like a giant shallot.
Separate these and re-plant. Unfortunately, the ideal time for doing
this is *after* the foliage has died back into invisibility, and you
have no clue where they were/are. Which means either keeping
meticulous records or marking the areas with sticks or labels while
the foliage is still growing.

There's a much easier way. Like snowdrops, narcissi don't mind at all
if you dig them up as soon as the flowers have finished when the foliage
is still green, divide, and replant. The leaves tend to look droopy
after, but that doesn't seem to affect them adversely.

Getting flowering daffs from seed takes 4-7 years. A bulb division
usually a maximum of 2 yrs, depending on size. I believe my record was
27 bulbs from one (after no lifting for 4-5 years). Of course, many of
these were quite small, but there were at least a dozen good sized
ones well worth re-planting.

Even the weeniest ones are worth replanting..once they have their own
bit of soil space they grow on surprisingly fast to flowering size.

Janet

The message
from Frogleg contains these words:


While daffs *do* produce seed, many bulbs propogate most easily
through division. After 3-4 years in place, you may notice an
abundance of foliage with few blooms. If you dig, you will find many
bulbs have developed additional 'cousins', like a giant shallot.
Separate these and re-plant. Unfortunately, the ideal time for doing
this is *after* the foliage has died back into invisibility, and you
have no clue where they were/are. Which means either keeping
meticulous records or marking the areas with sticks or labels while
the foliage is still growing.

There's a much easier way. Like snowdrops, narcissi don't mind at all
if you dig them up as soon as the flowers have finished when the foliage
is still green, divide, and replant. The leaves tend to look droopy
after, but that doesn't seem to affect them adversely.

Getting flowering daffs from seed takes 4-7 years. A bulb division
usually a maximum of 2 yrs, depending on size. I believe my record was
27 bulbs from one (after no lifting for 4-5 years). Of course, many of
these were quite small, but there were at least a dozen good sized
ones well worth re-planting.

Even the weeniest ones are worth replanting..once they have their own
bit of soil space they grow on surprisingly fast to flowering size.

Janet