Plus, Grumpys plant of the week.
Are voles eating the bulbs?
Grumpy Gardener:I guess my first question is are youplantingthem in soil?
Daffodils are associated with luck and unrequited love.Credit: Photo Credit: Nicolette Wells/Moment/Getty Images
Now that’s essential.
You must plant them in soil.
So if you haven’t been doing that, check that one off this next fall.
Well, you’re asking another question.
Are voles eating the bulbs?
Voles are likelittle rodent creaturesthat look a lot like moles but they eat plants instead of worms and stuff.
But it’s not voles because daffodil bulbs are toxic to all rodents.
You won’t get chipmunks eating them, and you won’t get mice eating them.
You won’t get rabbits eating them.
You won’t get deer eating the flowers.
So that’s not it.
The bigger the bulb the better it is, and it’s going to produce more flowers.
So get better bulbs and you’ll get better blooms!
And finally, do not plant incandescent bulbs.
Now, it’s calleda snowflake.Its botanical name is Leucojum.
So I’m going to spell that for you.
It’s L-E-U-C-O-J-U-M. Leucojum.
It’s also known as the snowflake.
Now, what’s really nice about this bulb is it blooms about the same time as the daffodils.
It’s a very easy bulb to grow.
It multiplies freely so you might naturalize it.
And nothing bothers these bulbs.
You don’t have to worry about voles or mice or chipmunks or anything, or deer eating them.
They come back year after year.
Now, they’re widely available.
you’re able to buy them at garden centers, at home centers.
you’re able to get them from a bulb catalog.
It’s called Gravetye Giant.
Gravetye is spelled G-R-A-V-E-T-Y-E, and that’s named after a garden in England called Gravetye.
About Ask Grumpy
Ask Grumpyis a podcast featuring Steve Bender, also known asSouthern LivingsGrumpy Gardener.
