Thursday, February 23, 2012

Why are there Lilliputians in my garden?

The daffodils are starting to open in my garden!  Mostly right now are Ice Follies and an all-yellow trumpet that is probably Carlton or something similar, both of which typically start blooming about now.  But today I found this little squirt, also...
This daffodil was part of a mix of unnamed fragrant seedlings from Brent and Becky's bulbs.  I had to move them last summer to make way for construction of a patio.  I had marked these bulbs as "Early/Short" but they were neither this early nor this short last year!  Just in case it isn't clear just how vertically-challenged this daffodil is, here's another shot...
I have almost no clue why they are like this, this year.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I disturbed them before the foliage had fully ripened last year?  But I have other daffodils, Ice Follies, that are also blooming short this year, without having been moved.  Somewhat taller than the unnamed Jonquilla type shown above, this one towers over Strawberry Shortcake at a good eight inches or so.

I have read that tulips can bloom on very short stems if they get insufficient cooling... and in fact it has been unusually warm this year.  But it's hard for me to believe that explanation for several reasons.  I've never heard of it happening with daffodils?  (Have you?)  Ice Follies are naturally very early blooming and are particularly prolific and prevalent around here in Southeastern Virginia where it is common to not have particularly cold winters and I've never seen them bloom short like this.  If it were going to happen, it should have happened last year to a clump of bulbs I planted in February.  I planted them  at the same time that most of the Ice Follies in my garden were blooming!  They bloomed with the late daffodils at the normal height; they are in bloom again right now at the typical Ice Follies time and height.