How Does Your Garden Grow?

My childhood best friend had a giant flower bed that grew along a hill in her front yard. Every spring small, green, tiny sprigs would push their way through the soil and transform into dozens of cheery yellow daffodils. This was one of my favorite signs of spring! I remember being sent outside with scissors to cut fresh vases and Karen, my second mom, would always send me home with my own little bouquet. 100% of the time I proudly presented them to my mom.

Naturally, as an adult I want to plant to daffodils in my own yard. We recently purchased 36 King Alfred daffodil bulbs. I was so excited to get home and plant them on the first 60 degree day we've had in weeks. To my surprise, when reading about the spacing and depth, I learned that the “ideal” time to plant the bulbs ended LAST month. How very tragic, especially for my bulbs!

I began Googling what would happen if you planted bulbs too late in the planting season. Turns out, according to HGTV probably nothing. Ideally, bulbs need to planted when the ground temperatures are between 40-50 degrees so that the roots have time to grow and strengthen before hard freezes begin. That is November and December in the great state of NC! HGTV calls bulbs “survivors” and I'm placing my bets on that. I'm not too far past the prime point but this winter has been abnormally cold (for the entire United States of America!) and most nights are freezing temperatures. I'm definitely worried but not ready to give up on my daffodil dreams. I'll keep you posted in a couple months when I should begin to see my very own green sprouts emerge!

Any bulb planters out there? What do you think? Will my efforts be wasted or will I have 36 yummy yellow blooms to admire?