Think Spring! Plant Daffodils Now for Next Year's Bloom

by Special Guest Blogger Karan Davis Cutler

William Wordsworth may have captured daffodils most memorably—“fluttering and dancing in the breeze”—but we New England gardeners don’t need a British poet to recognize their merits. Easy to grow and pest-free, daffodils dare the cold. After thrusting their leaves through the half-frozen soil, they create an explosion of sunlight like of flock of goldfinches.

Daffodils—the flower’s scientific moniker is Narcissus—have a bucketful of common names. My mother called them jonquils. Our neighbors called them Easter flowers. Others know them as Lent Lilies, and they are daffy down dillies in The Secret Garden.2 Forms: Trumpet (L) and Double (R)

Depending on who’s counting, there are between 50 and 100 Narcissus species. Some are threatened by over-harvesting in the wild, but the best-known daffodils, the ones you’ll want in your garden, are the named varieties that can be purchased with a clear conscience. There are well over 20,000 to chose from, a regular narcissus nirvana.

All daffodils have a central crown—a “trumpet” if it’s long, a “cup” if it’s short—that is surrounded by three petals and three petal-like sepals. But it doesn’t stop there: the professionals have divided narcissus into 12 classes based on their flower shape. Not only are there trumpets and large cups and small cups and flat cups, but daffodils called doubles that have twice the usual number of petals; pendulous daffodils that face downward; daffodils with reflexed petals that flare backward; daffodils with more than one flower per stem; and more.

I’m a traditionalist when it comes to daffodils. I don’t like doubles, which collapse in spring rains. I have my doubts about nodding daffodils that can’t be seen well unless I lie on the ground, and I’m not an admirer of innovative colors like pink and apricot, which better belong to those horribly stiff Dutch hyacinths. (I confess that as a kid in a country school I did love to put a yellow daffodil in my bottle of blue ink and watch it turn green.)

But even more important than form or color, I want daffodils that are not only going to return every spring but return in greater numbers. While most narcissus are long-lived—many will outlast us—not all varieties are really good naturalizers. When I say “naturalize,” I don’t mean bulbs planted to look as if they were planted by Mother Nature, but bulbs so adaptable, rugged, and undemanding that they behave as if they were planted by Mother Nature. They ask for nothing. They return each spring, and they multiply. With enthusiasm. (When it comes to daffodils, more really is better: there’s nothing like 200 golden blooms to cheer your morning or make the neighbor’s mouth water.)

Some of the good choices for a fast track to your own Narcissus Nirvana are:

• ‘Barrett Browning’—white petals and a small orange cup
• ‘Cheerfulness’—double with creamy white petals and a pale yellow center
• ‘Fortissimo’—large reddish-orange cup and yellow petals
• ‘Ice Follies’—large cup with white petals and frilled, bright yellow center (photo below)
• ‘Jetfire’—cyclamenlike daffodil with reflexed yellow petals and an orange trumpet (photo abaove right)
• ‘Mount Hood’—heirloom with white petals with a pale yellow trumpet that fades to white
• ‘Têtê á Têtê’—small, all-yellow cyclamenlike flower with trumpet slightly darker than petals
• ‘Thalia’—fragrant heirloom with pendant flowers, five per stem
• N. poeticus—fragrant species with white petals and a shallow cup edged with red

The most difficult thing about growing daffodils is to remember is to plant them in autumn for bloom in spring. (With narcissus, gratification is lifelong rather than instant.) Bulbs need to get into the ground six weeks before it freezes. Set each (flat end down) between six and eight inches deep, five or six inches apart (miniatures should be set three or four inches deep). Daffodils are tolerant of a wide pH range (5.0 to 8.0), but do best in slightly acid conditions. What they don’t like is heavy, poor-draining soil, which is exactly the soil I have. If you, too, have been unfortunate and have inherited dense clay, dig in as much organic matter as possible and plant on the shallow side.

Bulbs aren’t heavy feeders. The old wisdom of adding bone meal to the planting hole doesn’t do much beyond encouraging the neighborhood dogs to dig up your bulbs. If you add fertilizer to the planting area, make sure that it is low in nitrogen and somewhat higher in phosphorus and potassium. Experts like Brent Heath—author of the informative Daffodils for American Gardens—recommends a slow-release fertilizer, such as 5-10-20 N-P-K formula that includes trace elements, especially magnesium, which is crucial to strong color. (Magnesium also can be supplied by sprinkling Epsom salts on the soil).

Although they will tolerate some shade, daffodils do best in full sun in New England. After flowering is over, you can cut off the spent blooms to prevent seeds from forming, but don’t be tempted to tidy up. Whether your daffodils are growing in a well-tended bed or in the lawn, let the leaves yellow. Next year’s blossoms depend on the leaves having time to replenish the bulb—so don’t cut the foliage, don’t tie it up, don’t braid it.

One last bit of advice from Brent Heath: never cut a daffodil. Daffodils should picked, not cut. Grasp the stem at its base, pull up gently and snap. Place each stem in tepid water—no additives—and enjoy the botanical sunshine.