Rescuing Daffodils

I've recently moved to a home that has roots going back 100 yrs. The house has been changed and added on to, but I think is in the original spot. Apparently the people who owned before me liked "lawns" and buried lots of fun things, that are just begining to show themselves. The back "yard" has a good number of daffodils and grape hyacinths, much more than showed last year.

The problem? Well, I didn't know they were there, and now many of these little treasures are in the cow pasture. The cows don't eat the plants (they do de-flower some ;) but they trample them. I've been told to move them in the fall, but in the fall I won't be able to see them. Marking is iffy, markers don't stand up to 1200 pound critters either.

If I dig them now, or after the blooms finish, will they die? If they will survive, what do I do? Re-plant in the ground, or in pots til fall, or something else?

Most of them aren't anything fancy, just really pretty spring yellow, but some sem to be "double". I think the doubles need real help, the blooms seem to have trouble opening fully, but maybe time will help them.

Anywho, all advice welcome, I'd like to save them from cowfeet....

margo

i am defineately no expert, but i moved a bunch of different types of bulbs in the last couple of months and all seem to be doing ok. some of them are blooming now. i posed a similar question to yours in this forum and was told that some bulbs might not like being moved and will not bloom this year. like you, i didnt want to wait until fall, really hard to locate them at that time! IMHO the bulbs you are talking about are pretty hardy to have been growing without any help for many years. it seems that they could take the move better than some less hardy newer hybrids. those are the types of bulbs i have also been moving, old daffs, snowflakes, spider lilies, st joseph lilies, old iris. as i stated, i am no expert, just have had some recent experience. :)

tracie

Can't tell you the "right" answer, but can tell you that I recently moved a patch of daffodils in mid-bloom, and they recovered nicely. A number of them even kept their bloom without wilting at all. I'm keeping them moist, but other than that, I expect they will do fine. Flowering next year might be lessened, but that's ok. Like you, I just didn't want to lose them. I'd say dig the bulbs up with as much surrounding soil/root mass as you can and move them into pots or a bed, keep them moist (but not wet, since they are bulbs) and let them grow until they die back naturally. I bet they'll be fine, and be blooming well again in a year or two.

You can move them now, replant elsewhere and next year you'll be glad you did.

Thanks, everyone! I'll do it as soon as I can sneak in without the cows seeing. They love to help.......

margo