Daffodil
Narcissus species (AMARYLLIDACEAE)
Planting and Growing Daffodil
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow daffodil in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of daffodil
- Season of bloom and planting time for daffodil
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for daffodil
- When, how deep, and where to plant daffodil
- How to plant daffodil
- Watering, fertilizing, care and pests or diseases of daffodil
- Landscape and indoor uses of daffodil
- Comments about daffodil and its features
Growing Daffodil
Spring bulb. Deciduous. About 26 species, many hybrids. Stands 4–24 in. (10–60 cm) tall. Narrow, flat, straplike, light to deep green leaves.
Daffodil Planting and Care Guide
Flowers
Late winter–early spring. Cream, orange, peach, pink, red, white, yellow, bicolored. Solitary or clustered trumpet-shaped, sometimes fragrant flowers, 1/2–2‑in. (12–50‑mm) wide, with short to long, smooth or ruffled crowns, surrounded by single or double, sometimes frilly petals.
Best Climates
U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zones 3–9; ground hardy, zones 4–9.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist to damp, well-drained soil. Fertility: Rich–average. 5.5–6.5 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Autumn in full sun to partial shade. Space 3–5 in. (75–125 mm) apart, 5–8 in. (13–20 cm) deep.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep moist winter–spring. Fertilize until buds form. Remove spent flowers by promptly cutting off their stems at the ground for better bulb development and larger flowers in subsequent seasons. Propagate by division, offsets in autumn. Divide only when crowded.
Lifting and Storing
Dark, 40–50°F (4–10°C), in net bag or open basket of dry peat moss.
About This Species
Good choice for hanging baskets, beds, borders, containers, drifts, massed plantings, slopes in cottage, meadow, natural, shade, woodland gardens. Good for cutting. Naturalizes. Deer, rodent resistant. Narcissus bulb fly susceptible; discard infested bulbs.
About Daffodils
Members of the 26-species Narcissus genus follow tulips as the second-most commonly planted spring bulbs.
Daffodils and narcissus all are members of the wide and diverse AMARYLLIDACEAE family. Many thousands of hybrid cultivars have been registered. These hybrids have widely varied growth habits, flower forms, and colors.
Most Narcissus species are native to the temperate regions of Europe and North Africa.
Most daffodils and narcissus are carefree plants—hardy, easily divided, and simple to propagate. All narcissus are true, tunicate bulbs with tissue-paper-like outer coverings that protect their bulbs from moisture loss.
In common usage, daffodils typically have large blooms while narcissus are often clustered and smaller-flowered. Jonquil, Narcissus jonquilla, is a popular narcissus species typical of the small-flowered narcissus form.
Horticulturally, Narcissus are divided into three subgenera—Ajax, Corbularia, and Narcissus—and six horticultural sections—Ganymedes, Hermione, Jonquilleae, Narcissus, Serotini, and X Queltia hybrids—as well as into the 12 more commonly recognized divisions listed above.
The divisions use such criteria as flower number, size, proportion, petal or corona arrangement, and color to distinguish between the many narcissus cultivars available. Divisions are used to create groups in flower competitions for award categories.
Classification terminology and registration of cultivar names is governed by the American Daffodil Society in the United States and by the Royal Horticultural Society in Britain.
Planting and Caring for Daffodils
Plant narcissus in moist to damp, well-drained, sandy loam mixed with peat moss to increase its acidity.
They perform best in full sun, filtered sun beneath deciduous trees, and in open shade. Choose the cultivars that suit your needs for time of bloom as well as their appearance and color.
Growers have developed dwarf and unusual-flowered cultivars of many color combinations.
Gardeners usually plant daffodil, narcissus, and jonquil in autumn as soil temperatures cool. The bulbs remain in the ground over the winter, and bloom in the spring.
In mild-winter climates, autumn-planted daffodils may bloom during winter; plant them in January or February to have typical spring flower displays.
Narcissus add beauty to landscapes in many garden spots, including beds and borders. Naturalize them beneath grass or bring a rock garden to life in spring with these reliable spring bulbs. They also are popular container plants in outdoor landscapes and as indoor houseplants.
Massed plantings of narcissus in open landscapes and those allowed to naturalize in turfgrass are especially attractive, as are accents, borders, edgings, and pathside plantings in the landscape, and group plantings in pots at an entry or stairway.
Narcissus blooms last longest when they are planted in partially sunny locations with cool temperatures. Even indoor pots should be kept outdoors in a sunny, cool location until the buds begin to open.