Daffodils in July with Taylors Bulbs
In this offshoot episode of Our Plant Stories, we head into the fields of Lincolnshire to explore what’s happening with daffodil bulbs in the middle of summer and if you listen, I hope that like me, you will see these bulbs in a whole new light when you come to buy them in just a couple of months time. Adam Frost when I chatted to him at the British Library earlier this month said that one of the best ways to enjoy gardening was to just ‘be curious’. And I hope I have asked all the questions you would have asked had you been standing in a field of bulbs as they were being harvested.
Standing with Ian Clark in front of a rack of drying Tamara daffodil bulbs
The Story
Taylor’s Bulbs, is a fourth-generation family firm that’s been growing bulbs since 1919. The company was founded by Otto Augustus Taylor, a London pharmacist who, after being injured in World War I, was awarded a smallholding in Lincolnshire under a scheme for returning servicemen. He began to grow flowers and bulbs and what began as four hectares of land has grown into over 750 hectares of farmland, more than 30 RHS gold medals, and a Royal Warrant.
Ian Clark, the Marketing Manager who has worked for the company for 18 years, was my guide as we walked through the dusty field picking our way between clods of earth the size of your head, to uncover how daffodils are harvested, cleaned, graded and packaged for us the consumer. I learned about 7 year crop cycles, pests and diseases, the process of drying and storing the bulbs. Want to know how you should store the bulbs when they arrive - listen on.
There are also tips on how to choose which bulbs to buy and a great idea to give you 5 months of daffodils next year, with the first ones blooming in Jan and the last ones finishing in May.
For me the key that unlocked the mystery of this process was the simple fact that it all works on the circumference of the bulb. Some will be small and will return to the field to grow for another two years. Some have reached the perfect size to be packaged and sent out to retailers. And some are bigger and have now got daughter bulbs growing on them and will be replanted and the daughter bulbs will fall off and make new daffodil bulbs and so the cycle starts again.
Tips for this Autumn
There is a huge range of daffodil bulbs on sale, different colours and sizes, some are scented and trying something new could be fun. You just need to study the catalogues to really understand the attributes of the different bulbs.
Taylors have a ‘5 months of colour collection’ which has 7 varieties which will bloom from January, beginning with Spring Dawn and ending in April/May with Pheasant’s Eye. I definitely plan to draw up some lists with this idea in mind.
Once you get the bulbs remember the top tip for storing them is:
“If you're comfortable, it's probably fine for the bulbs too.”
but airflow is key, hence the net bags.