Growing Daffodils
To begin with their scientific name is Narcissus. And yes, they were named after Narcissus, that poor, long-suffering lover of his own image.
Along with tulips, hyacinths and crocus, these bulbs are the mainstays of the spring-bulb color explosion.
It is pretty easy to understand why they are so popular: they are hardy, pest free, disease free, naturalize well, live for years with no work, multiply if left alone, and come in a wide variety of flower colors, heights, sizes and flower shapes.
You can grow them in the garden, in containers or force them indoors.
Daffodil Pictures
This is a video of the different classes of daffodils you can grow in your garden.
Starting, Planting and Transplanting
You can even start them yourself from seed.
You can transplant daffodils if they get "in the wrong place".
Planting Daffodils - the two main rules to remember about planting these bulbs are described right here.
Doug's garden and what I'm doing with these bulbs. I'll continue to update this page as the adventure continues.
Poisonous Bulbs
Squirrels and deer rarely, if ever, bother them and while pests will chew tulips to the ground, this bulb keeps blooming away. (they taste vile which is a good thing because they are poisonous.)
Recommended Varieties
If you're counting, you'll find the experts think there is somewhere around 26 species of wild narcissus. Now that depends of course on which expert you'ree talking to because they don't all agree on the divisions between plants. What we do know is that our garden narcissus have been hybridized for so long their specific parentage is almost impossible to determine. The divisions right now are:
* Trumpet narcissi including the old fashioned ‘King Alfred’
* Narcissus large-cupped
* Small cupped narcissi
* Split-corona narcissi
* Triandrus narcissi
* Cyclamineus narcissi
* Narcissus jonquilla
* Tazetta narcissi
* Poeticus narcissi
* Narcissus bulbocodium
* Narcissus canaliculatus
* Narcissus lobularis
* Narcissus nanus
* Narcissus odorus
* Double narcissi
Daffodil 'Dutch Master'
Growing Tips
And no matter what kind you want to force into early bloom, I'll assume you know how to put it into the pot (pointy end up) cover it with dirt (leave the neck uncovered) but you don't know about pre-chilling requirements.
Here's the scoop on forcing daffodil bulbs and their requirements.
Here's two tips on moving bulbs and reblooming care.
This bulb comes in a wide variety of colors, ranging from the traditional yellow through white, orange-reds, oranges and salmon-pinks. You’ll also see different colors between the corona (the trumpet or cup shape) and the perianth (the petals)
All are quite hardy, to at least minus 10C, with the exception of the Tazetta species.
Daffodil 'Bridal Crown'
Plant according to the size of the bulb and full instructions for planting are here
This bulb improves every spring in the garden landscape but sometimes you do have to do some maintenance to keep them happy.
You can plant them in containers, in natural settings, in formal settings, in rock gardens, you can use them as cut flowers if you can stand to take them out of your garden and you can easily force them for really early spring color.
This is the easiest bulb to grow and succeed with. If you can't grow this bulb, I'd recommend you try silk. (Well, clay soils will kill them because they do need good drainage.)
Questions and Answers
Chris wants to know why his buds die.
Here are the longest blooming Jonquils
What about collecting and sowing seed from your own garden?
I'm
now taking some semi-retirement time, so questions are
now only being answered here. (Click Here)
You may find yours already answered so do check out the lists below
What Other Visitors Have Asked About Daffodils
Click below to see what other gardeners have asked about daffodils
after blooming clean up
What can I do with the yellow leaves after blooming is over? Cut?
Doug says cut off the yellowing leaves and put them in the conmpost pile
when to cut foliage back
when can you cut the bulbs back? Do I need to wait for the stems to naturally die out? I don't won't to hurt the bulbs for next seasons bloom.
Doug ...
do I have to dig daffodils
Can I leave them in the ground year round?
Doug says can you leave daffodil bulbs in the ground year round? I'm not sure why you'd want to dig them ...
Does the mother plant of daffodils die after seeding?
Does the mother plant of daffodils die after seeding?
Doug says that no - the bulb will not die after the flower is allowed to go to seed.
Its January 29th I just got bulbs My boss just dumped 2 huge bags of trumpet daffodils. Im in Kansas City Missouri, its about 4 degrees. The bulbs seem to be sprouting. I think he got them ...
Blooming before winter My paperwhites that I planted in Delaware in late Oct. have begun blooming, and the daffodils are up about a ft. already! Winter is just coming. Will ...
bulb size and blooms
How big does a daffodil bulb have to be in order to produce a bloom?
Doug says a #2 or something about 1-inch across should produce a small show of ...
Which is the Seed After taking the base of the bud appart I found a black seed like ball in the center and then there were much smaller seed like parts, like that you find ...
Storing Daffodil Bulbs for more than a year I have recently purchased a property with lots & lots of daffodils. I have dug up many of the bulbs. I will be tearing down the existing house & re-building ...
no flowers
I have lots of plant but no flowers. How can I make them bloom next year.
Doug says you read the how to grow daffodil articles and give the plants ...
Daffodil Flower Questions
Daffodil flower questions and answers from garden author Doug Green
poisonous plants among vegetables
Is it safe to plant things like daffodils and azaleas amoung edible plants like vegetable or strawberries?
Doug says that unless you're going to be ...
Too many white/orange ones Hi. I have more white/orange daffodils than all yellow and they have become mixed together. Any suggestions on how to separate them so I can have clumps ...
Can I plant bulbs
Can I plant the bulbs after the flowers died off from a Easter plant that's been in doors for two weeks. If so, when
Doug says you can plant them ...
Can I transplant now I have a bunch of daffodils on a bank, that are coming up now Feb 14 2009 about 3 to 4 inch green stems, can I dig up now and separate and replant and ...
late season bulb deals
Wal-mart has bulbs cheap now. Could I get them now and plant them this year and have them live, other than forcing them?
Doug says the reason those ...
buying proper bulbs to take home hi.i am in amsterdam now.but i will be going back home in february.( bangalore,india).i want to buy some bulbs like tulips,daffodils etc from here.what ...
forcing didn't go so well I tried forcing daffodils/crocus/tulips/hyacinths in pots, new bulbs, fresh pot. mix, clean pots; left em in fridge since early Sept- the hyacinths sprouted ...
frost protection for seedlings
Do I need to protect daffodils started by seed from the frost the first year outdoors? How soon do I put them out when they have germinated?
Doug says ...
Too cold for dug bulbs? I have Daffodil bulbs that I dug and put in my unheated shed. The temps this winter got colder than in the last 10 years (-19 degrees). Is that too cold ...
Bulbs sprouting early It is only October 1st (I am in the SF Bay area) and the bulbs have started sending up leaves... Should I cut the leaves back in hopes it will get cold ...
Transplanting in the summer I need to put down new ground cover and bark. I would like to move my bulbs along my fence. It is in the 90's and I just wonder if it will make a difference ...
Lift hyacinths to plant again? If I want to replant hyacinths which were outside this season to another outdoor location, when should I lift them and how should I store them until replanting ...
Planting bulbs or grown plant? When and what is best to plant the daffodil bulb or full grown plant at this time of the season? I am planting them in soil 10- 15 blocks from the ocean ...
how many bulbs to plant We just trimmed our daffodil leaves all the way down and then dug up the bulbs since we are redoing our entire flower bed. I wasn't sure if I should replant ...
maintenence after blooming
Once the flowers are done blooming, do I cut the plant back to the ground surface or just remove the blooms?
Doug says remove the spent blooms by ...
No blooms after long winter I, too, am having the problem of lots of wonderful green leaves, but no blooms on my daffodils or tulips. I read your response to the Atlanta post, but ...
Bulb storage after growing indoors
How can I store bulbs that have been grown indoors so that I can plant them in the garden for next year?
Doug says - why store them? Plant them outside ...
no blooms for 2 years straight
First year we lived there had plenty of blooms, next year 2, last 2 years zero blooms. Big healthy greens but no blooms. Why
Doug says - see the post ...
If you want to ask a question about daffodils, click here
