Daffodils versus Tulips
Two genera dominate our spring gardens and yet they are so different. Exploring these differences is a good way of understanding plants more generally. Most gardeners will tell you that “tulips don't last from year to year” but daffodils will keep on flowering from one year to the next and build up into clumps. The unreliability of tulips is a bit unfair, as some varieties are actually quite good at re-flowering, and we are learning a lot more now about which ones. There's a caveat though – they are fussy, and perform well only reliably on light but fertile soils, which is not a common combination. Daffodils are much more forgiving.
Daffodils are also much better at forming new bulbs and building up into clumps – tulips aren't. We could make a comparison between those perennials that quickly spread into nice clumps like geraniums and those that don't, like hellebores. They do this at different rates though – of the hundred or so cultivars I have tried over the years, some just sit there, whereas others visibly increase from year to year.
Something really interesting I have learnt in my Portuguese garden, which is very relevant for our increasingly unstable climate, is what happens in a dry spring. Two years ago, we had virtually no rain between Christmas and May. The previous autumn I had planted a load of tulips and drumstick alliums, thinking “these are semi-desert plants from central Asia, they'll be fine”. No such luck. Almost total failure. The daffodils, ones I had planted at the same time and the ones there already, performed as normally.
The reason I decided was that there is a big difference in how long the bulbs and their roots are active. Daffodil roots start to grow in autumn, which is why they should be planted early, and grow through the winter. Tulips and many alliums need warmer soil and often do not start into root growth until the spring (which is why they can be planted so much later), so they have a much narrower window of opportunity to grow. In a dry spring, the combination of warmth and moisture they needed simply isn't there. They are, I suppose 'snow melt' plants. It seemed to me a paradox but daffodils are so much more resilient. Actually, I much prefer them anyway!
