News: Choosing Your Daffodils

Choosing your Daffodils

As an active member of the RHS Bulb Committee, I have been extensively involved with their bulb trials over the years. I have put together the daffodil collection in my catalogue from the very best of the many hundreds available.
It can often seem quite daunting to choose just the right plant, given the enormous range from which to choose. An important starting point has to be the desired location, here are some pointers.

• herbaceous border or shrubbery

to provide a focal point choose from the larger flowering daffodils, typically trumpets (div1), large cupped (div2), small cupped (div3), doubles (div4) and tazetta daffodils (div8).

• mass formal planting

here you can choose from the full spectrum, avoiding the very short varieties, depending on the surrounding planting.

• bulbs for naturalising

particularly suitable are the cyclemineus, triandrus and poeticus daffodils especially if you are planting in grass.

• bulbs for a patio display.

unless you have very large containers choose from our dwarf narcissi section. Particularly recommended are the smaller free flowering cyclamineus narcissi.

All daffodils are suitable for sunny or semi-shaded positions, although pink cupped varieties are best planted in a sunny aspect to develop their colour. My top 5 tips to get the best from your daffodils:-

1. Always plant in well cultivated soil.
2. Plant bulbs sufficiently deep  (12cm to 15cm of soil on top of the bulb
3. Let the foliage discolour and deadhead after flowering.
4. Don’t let your tubs and containers dry out.
5. After flowering foliar feeder is a good idea