2 comments for “Erlicheer”

  1. Dear Naomi…
     
    The identical same thing is occuring here in Richmond with some Erlicheer that I planted back in the spring immediately following when they were lifted, all with green foliage still attached, although semi-rigid.  I did this as sort of an experiment and, since this is the mid-point, I must wait until spring to see what happens!   
     
    I do not wish to ‘bother’ other daffnetters, but I would be very interesting in hearing from others who have replanted immediately upon lifting and dividing.
     
    Ahhh, shucks! I just planted the last 4 large Erlicheer bulbs I saved and I forgot to cut two perpendicular slices across the basal plate to see if this will facilitate multiple bulb propagation, as I have been told it will.  Honest, I’m not trying to do anything that would offend the late Murray Gardner from ‘down under’ who (Erlicheer 1934 = 75 years) is more than likely tending daffodils ‘up yonder’, God rest his soul in the promised land of “eternal rest and no basal rot”!
     
    Your message was very timely, indeed.
     
    Regards from Richmond, Virginia,
     
    Ross
     
    Ross A. Hotchkiss
    mid-Atlantic Director

    —-

  2. Ross

    In re. lifting and replanting right away, for me, it’s never been an issue (and having limited time to garden, sometimes it’s an inescapable!). As someone who regularly rescues daffs and other perennials from demolition sites, roadcuts, commercial property that’s being relandscaped, and other oddball places I get my “stock” at at any time but the most ideal – thanks to the bulldozers and the guys with the shovels. 

    I’ve lifted entire clumps of bulbs in full bloom (preferably on rainy days, it’s easier though messier) and dropped them into holes I’ve pre-dug in my garden – with a little extra watering and attention they keep going until die back time – I either leave them be for a year or two to let them settle down, or if the clump’s  blind and congested I dig them back up once the foliage dies back, separate and sort, and then I either dry them for a few days on the seat of a lawn chair and put them in onion bags in the basement until fall planting, or just drop ’em back into the hole considerably thinned out – and been shocked when they bloom the following year as if nothing happened. Then there was the time I put a bunch of Colleen Bawns into a Wal-Mart sack, and left them on the railing of my front porch meaning to replant them the following day in my mother’s yard. Turns out the following day was three months later. I planted them anyway as they seemed to be all right: next Spring, I got flowers.
    I think it all depends on how and when you handle them. If given my druthers, I’d as soon spot a clump, wait for die-back, and then go and do a proper job of it, but developers and urban renewal guys don’t alway work that way.
    I hope this helps!
    Chris Durrill, who is now watching a block of old houses being prepared for demolition as there were some particularly beautiful wine/magenta and old gold irises growing along their foundation and it’d be a shame if they were paved over for a convention center parking lot…

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