Daffodils in my Garden | Nuts about Narcissi
The Joy of Narcissi ….
Over the years I’ve grown painfully aware that my garden has lacked a burst of spring colour. Spring uplifts us as we come out of the winter, and celebrating that in our gardens should be a given. Aside from a few thousand crocus bulbs (a few hundred of which were scattered into the front lawns) I wanted to give the back beds a serious daffodil boost. These delightful blooms are synonymous with the fresh cool pale shades of springtime and they are popular with good reason.
As most will know Narcissi are in nearly all cases reliable perennials by their very nature. They will grow in any reasonable soil but they do prefer moist and fertile soil. As far as light is concerned they do best in sun or light shade. All tend to be fully hardy, with the exception of the Tazetta ones (Division 8). While these can grow vigorously they should only really be planted outdoors in areas with a mild climate (with the exception of the hardy Tazetta/Poeticus hybrids in this division).
For reference the full list of the 12 divisions is as follows, with stem heights varying significantly. See further down for the ones I choose and why.
Trumpet Daffodils: single flower per stem, trumpet the length of the petals or more. These tend to be early Spring flowering
Large-Cupped: single flower per stem, cup over a 1/3rd of the length of the petals. Mainly early-mid Spring flowering
Small-Cupped: single flower per stem, cup less than a 1/3rd of the length of the petals. Mainly early to mid-season flowering
Doubles: either one or more flowers per stem, with two or more rings of petals. Mostly mid-season flowering
Triandrus: several flowers on each stem, nodding downward pointing heads and a relaxed slightly backward curving petals. Fragrant. Mid-season flowering
Cyclamineus: in almost every case just a single flower on each stem. Flowers tend to droop down, lengthy trumpets and petals curved backwards. There are both early and mid-season ones in this division
Jonquilla: in nearly every case more than one flower on each stem, with the cup shorter than the length of the petals. Fragrant. Mostly mid-late season
Tazetta: a number of flowers on each stem, flowers are small and cups are short. Petals tend to be rounded. Fragrant, but bulbs are tender
Poeticus: normally just one flower on each stem, with white petals and a frilled cup with a red edge. Sweetly scented. Mid-Late Season flowering
Wild: these include all the various species and naturally occurring hybrids one finds in the wild. Height tends to be less than 30cms. Early, mid and late flowering
Split-Corona: a single flower on each stem, with the corona or cup split for a 1/3rd of its length or more. A newer division that the others. These are sometimes referred to as Orchid or Butterfly types
Various Others / Miscellaneous: these don’t naturally sit in any of the other categories. The uncommon hybrids tend to sit in this division
Which Narcissi did I choose and why?
With almost 2,000 varieties of commercially available narcissi with a whole raft of shapes, sizes and colours, the decision was going to be a tough one. I wanted to select a few that would cover the whole Spring season as well as having a mix of flower head types, good range of colour variations, a variety of heights (depending on where in the borders I was going to place them) along with some that had a lovely sweet scent.
I already had the Tete-a-Tete (Cyclamineus Div 6) variety in many places. I popped these in due to their all yellow colour and the fact they have several flowers on each stem. About Tete-a-Tete Narcissi
For the first of my new additions I chose the Replete daffodil to pop in clumps in various places - both in the front and back beds. This was down to how much I liked the look of its double flowered head in a beautiful white, pink and coral colour. It is also sweetly scented - always an attracting feature of a daffodil for me. All the photos are of my own blooms in my own garden.
More information can be found on this variety here: daffodil narcissus replete
Secondly, I decided to go with Cheerfulness. I love the egg yolk with yellow stripes on white. I think they are very aptly named. Being mid-late season flowering, I also thought these would help bridge the seasons (picture to follow once they’ve bloomed).
If you want to read a bit more on these then a good source of information is here on the Gardenia website: narcissus cheerfulness double daffodil
Thirdly, I wanted to incorporate a few little clumps of the hardy cream and yellow “Minnows” (shown above) into the scheme somewhere. I say hardy, as these do actually belong to the Tazetta group or division, which as I mentioned previously is generally a tender one.
Itzim ….
Fourthly, I decided to go with a little patch of Itzim. These are from the Cyclamineus division. I just liked the look of the long bright slightly downward pointing orange trumpets against the recurved bright yellow petals. Colourful and very pretty.
Thalia ….
I also have a largish semi-shaded area under a large Norway Maple that I felt would benefit from a swathe of pure white multi-headed scented Narcissus. For me there was a clear winner here - it had to be Thalia variety from the Triandrus Division.
Each of them would show themselves with up to 3 flower heads. I think they look fabulous in drifts and it was the mini-drift effect I was after. I ordered 100 bulbs of these last year and popped them in during the Autumn. As you can see they are coming out well with the starting to approach 300 flower heads! They will also naturalise further over time.
If you want to read more about these, there’s a great write-up here: Thalia Narcissi White Daffodil
Actaea Poeticus ….
One of my favourites, I love the darker orange accent to the trumpet. A truly beautiful narcissus. A low sun in the late afternoon was used to subtly backlight this beautiful flower, so it almost glows from within.
What next? Which Narcissi am I still Hankering for and Intend to Plant this Autumn?
Well, at present there are two favourites that are still jumping out at me, as much for their colour as well as their ruffled flower heads. These are ……
1. Professor Einstein: read about narcissus professor einstein
2. Winston Churchill: narcissus sir winston churchill double daffodil
These I will look to order these later this year, probably from Farmer Gracy. As you’ll see, she has a really wonderful selection of bulbs.
