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Thursday, 16 June 2011
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Daphne has long been a much-admired shrub in the home garden, grown for its fragrant flowers.
For nine months of the year, we completely forget about it until it begins to flower. Then for the next few months, we find ourselves being drawn to it in the garden like a moth to a light bulb at night.
Daphne is easy to grow, but can be tricky sometimes if you don’t get a few basics right.
The Daphne plants are very fussy about their feet - the root zone is where problems generally start and finish when growing them. They hate their feet being touched, dug into or uncovered.
Food is the second area to be aware of - they are fussy feeders and like an ever so slightly acidic soil. Too much nitrogen and they turn up their toes, a light annual application of acid fertiliser once a year in late spring is generally all that is required.
They must have a well-drained soil as they hate wet feet. Daphne plants are more likely to cope with dry feet than wet, so get the drainage right and you should be alright.
To plant Daphne, simply dig a hole twice as wide as the pot the Daphne
is in, and a little deeper than the pot. Next make a little mound in the
middle of the hole, almost like an island, this is where you will sit
the root ball of the Daphne; the slightly elevated mound helps with
drainage. Be careful not to tease the roots out of the plant when you
firm it into the ground. Water in well.
Prune only after flowering and be careful not to prune back too hard. They can sometimes be slow to flower if the winter has been particularly cold - don't panic about this.
Sometimes before flowering once the plants are laden with flower buds, the leaves on Daphne can turn yellow and drop off. Don’t panic, this is common on plants that have set a lot of flower buds. Simply the plant is shedding some leaves to give you the flowers you crave. Fresh green ones will re-grow where the old ones fell off.
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Many thanks