Daffodils

Their allure deserves far wider usage. They are not limited to lining hedges and country verges, charming as that is.

Choosing by Location

The choice can seem daunting given the range available, and the sensible starting point is where they are going, since that determines the height you want. For a focal point in a border or shrubbery, choose from the larger flowering sorts: the trumpets, large cupped, small cupped, doubles and tazettas. For naturalising, and particularly in grass, look at the cyclamineus, triandrus and poeticus. For a patio, unless your containers are very large, choose from the dwarf narcissi.

Which Way They Will Face

An often overlooked consideration is the light aspect. Daffodils can be planted in full sun or semi shade, but wherever they are planted the buds will always open to the side where there is warmth and light. Give this careful consideration; you do not want your daffodils turning their back on you. Pink cupped varieties are best given a sunny aspect to develop their colour, and planted in the sun they will increase more rapidly year on year.

Why the Best Bulbs Give the Best Value

The late Fred Whitsey, of the RHS Daffodil Committee and gardening correspondent for the Telegraph, once posed the conundrum that you can pay more than double for what seems to be the same bulb. His trials found most batches gave at least ten flowers, with the yield rising to twenty six in one case, but the real variation showed in their capacity for increase. Some could be relied upon to give a hundred per cent more the following season; in others only one bulb in ten yielded another that would flower. The bulbs supplied by Bloms cost the most and gave the most. His conclusion was that increase is what counts, and that when you plant in the autumn you are providing for the future as well as for next spring.

Planting

We have found the best planting time to be from late September until the end of October, when the soil is cool enough to work against pests and diseases but still warm enough for maximum root development. Give them twelve to fifteen centimetres of soil over the top, and if you are in any doubt plant deeper rather than shallower. They suit all soil types but will not tolerate being waterlogged.

In Grass, and in Pots

For many people grass is where daffodils are at their best. The earlier flowering cyclamineus, triandrus and poeticus let you cut sooner, approximately six weeks after the bulbs have flowered. We are not great believers in random planting; far better to plant overlapping drifts of similar varieties, marking them out with sand beforehand. They are equally good in containers, especially the smaller varieties.