Autumn asks a certain amount of faith from the gardener.
We bury brown bulbs in cooling earth just as the garden is fading, the days are shortening, and winter lies ahead. There is little immediate reward for the work. The bed looks much the same when we finish as it did when we began.
But beneath the soil, roots are forming. Winter will do its necessary work. Then, when the garden seems to have forgotten color altogether, green shoots will appear and the daffodils will announce that another spring has come.
Of all the bulbs planted in fall, few repay that little act of faith more faithfully than daffodils and narcissus.
Daffodil or Narcissus—What's the Difference?
This causes more confusion than it should.
Narcissus is the botanical name for the entire genus. Daffodils are narcissus. Jonquils are narcissus. Paperwhites are narcissus.
In ordinary garden speech, "daffodil" usually brings to mind the familiar trumpet-shaped yellow spring flower, while "narcissus" is often used for smaller-flowered, white, fragrant, or multi-flowered types.
Botanically, however, they all belong to the genus Narcissus, a group of bulbous plants principally associated with Europe and the Mediterranean region. Centuries of selection and hybridization have given gardeners the enormous range of narcissus cultivars we enjoy today.
They may be miniature or tall, early or late, fragrant or nearly scentless. Flowers may be yellow, white, cream, orange, peach, pinkish, or combinations of these colors. Some carry one magnificent trumpet on a stem; others bear clusters of smaller flowers.
Plant several kinds, and the narcissus season can continue for many weeks.
An Ancient Flower With a Famous Name
The name Narcissus is inseparably connected with the beautiful but unfortunate youth of Greek mythology.
In the familiar classical story, Narcissus was a young man of extraordinary beauty. He rejected those who loved him—including, famously, the nymph Echo. Eventually he saw his own reflection in a pool of water and became so captivated by the image that he could not tear himself away. He wasted away, and a flower appeared where he died. Ancient versions of the story differ in some details, but the association between Narcissus, his reflection, and the flower is very old.
From his name, of course, we eventually acquired our words narcissism and narcissistic for excessive self-absorption.
And there is something curiously appropriate about assigning his name to the flower.
Many narcissus blossoms naturally incline or nod downward. Beside a pond or stream, one can easily imagine the flower bending over the water as Narcissus bent toward his own reflection.
There is a second appropriateness that the old mythmakers would surely have appreciated. Narcissus is extraordinarily beautiful—and seems almost to know it.
Wordsworth and the Daffodils
No English poet is more closely associated with daffodils than William Wordsworth.
His famous poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud was inspired by an April 1802 walk with his sister Dorothy beside Ullswater in England's Lake District. Wordsworth composed the poem in 1804 and first published it in 1807.
His daffodils were not standing stiffly in a formal bed. They were alive with the weather:
“A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”
Later he remembers them “Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.”
That is precisely the effect worth trying to reproduce in a garden—not merely a row of yellow flowers, but a colony.
Wordsworth understood something gardeners know well. The pleasure of a garden isn't confined to the moment when we stand in it. Months or years afterward, we can still see a particular spring morning in the mind's eye.
Fall Is the Time to Prepare for Spring
Daffodils should generally be planted in fall, after the soil has begun to cool but before it freezes hard.
In much of the South, there is no need to hurry them into warm September soil. October and November are often excellent planting months, and in warmer areas planting can continue later.
Northern gardeners ordinarily plant somewhat earlier because winter arrives sooner.
The principle is simple: the bulb needs time to develop roots in cool soil before winter, while the cold season provides the conditions necessary for proper spring growth and flowering.
That is why buying bulbs in autumn is really buying spring in advance.
Where to Plant Daffodils
Choose a site receiving full sun to partial shade.
Remember that "shade" beneath deciduous trees means something very different in March than it does in July. Daffodils can grow wonderfully beneath deciduous trees because they receive plenty of sunshine before the branches leaf out.
Good drainage is essential.
Narcissus bulbs tolerate a great deal, but sitting in waterlogged soil through winter is asking for trouble. Heavy soils should be improved with organic matter where appropriate, or bulbs can be planted in raised beds and naturally well-drained locations.
They are particularly attractive along woodland edges, beneath deciduous trees, on banks, among shrubs, beside paths, and throughout perennial borders.
How Deep Should Daffodils Be Planted?
A useful rule is to plant bulbs at a depth approximately two to three times the height of the bulb.
For most standard daffodils, that means roughly 6 inches deep, although particularly large bulbs may go somewhat deeper and miniature types somewhat shallower.
Place the pointed end upward and the flatter root end downward.
Space them according to the effect you want. For naturalizing, bulbs can be several inches apart. For a fuller display, plant somewhat more closely while still leaving room for multiplication.
Don't Plant Soldiers on Parade
There is nothing botanically wrong with planting daffodils in perfectly straight rows.
Aesthetically, it is another matter.
Daffodils are at their best when planted in irregular groups, sweeps, and drifts.
For naturalizing in a lawn or woodland edge, one old method remains hard to improve upon: gently scatter handfuls of bulbs across the area and plant them approximately where they fall.
Nature rarely measures six inches from one flower to the next.
Plant five or seven together here, eleven over there, another loose group beyond them. Allow the groups to lead the eye through the landscape.
If you want something approaching Wordsworth's "host of golden daffodils," don't be timid with the numbers.
Naturalizing Daffodils in a Lawn
Daffodils are among the finest bulbs for naturalizing in grass.
The great caution is mowing.
After the flowers fade, the leaves must remain until they yellow and begin dying naturally. Those green leaves are manufacturing food and returning it to the bulb for next year's flowers.
If you mow the foliage down while it is still green, you gradually weaken the bulbs.
For this reason, naturalized daffodils work best in parts of the lawn that can be allowed to become slightly informal in spring—beneath trees, on slopes, around old fruit trees, along property edges, or in meadow-like areas.
The somewhat untidy foliage is a small price for years of spring flowers.
Never Tie Up the Leaves
An old gardening practice was to fold or braid daffodil leaves after flowering to make the garden look tidier.
Don't.
Leave them alone.
The leaves need exposure to sunlight. Allow them to yellow naturally, and remove them only when they have finished their work.
A better solution is to plant daffodils among perennials whose emerging foliage gradually conceals the declining narcissus leaves.
Hostas, daylilies, hardy geraniums and other later-emerging perennials can perform this duty admirably.
Watering and Feeding
Water the bulbs after planting if the soil is dry. Once established, ordinary seasonal rainfall is often sufficient in many climates.
During active spring growth, the plants appreciate adequate moisture, but soggy soil should always be avoided.
Daffodils growing in reasonably fertile garden soil seldom need elaborate feeding. Compost and an appropriate bulb fertilizer can be useful in poor soils, particularly where bulbs have been growing and multiplying for many years.
Avoid excessive nitrogen, which encourages leaves at the expense of flowers.
One Great Advantage: Deer Usually Leave Them Alone
Gardeners plagued by deer quickly discover why daffodils are worth planting.
Narcissus bulbs and foliage contain alkaloids that make them unpalatable and potentially toxic. Consequently, deer, rabbits, squirrels, and many other garden marauders generally leave them alone.
This gives daffodils a considerable advantage over tulips, which can sometimes seem less like garden ornaments than an expensive salad planted for the convenience of deer.
Daffodils are also long-lived. In a suitable location, old plantings can persist for decades.
When Daffodils Become Crowded
Healthy daffodils gradually multiply.
Eventually an old clump may produce masses of foliage but fewer flowers. Crowding may be the culprit.
After the foliage has yellowed, dig the clump, gently separate the bulbs, and replant them with more room.
What began as a handful of bulbs can eventually become dozens—and later hundreds.
This is one reason daffodils are such good plants for old houses, churchyards, farmsteads, and historic gardens. Long after the gardener who planted them has gone, the flowers may still mark the place every spring.
Plant Some Early, Middle, and Late Varieties
A daffodil garden needn't flower all at once.
Choose cultivars from different flowering periods. Early narcissus begin the season; midseason trumpet, large-cupped and other varieties provide the main display; later-flowering types extend it.
Add fragrant jonquils and multi-flowered narcissus, and the planting becomes much more interesting than a single mass of standard yellow trumpets.
White and yellow are classics for good reason, but modern cultivars also offer orange, apricot, salmon, and pink-toned cups and coronas.
Still, there will always be something incomparable about a sweep of plain golden daffodils beneath bare spring trees.
Wordsworth settled that argument two centuries ago.
Plant Hope in Autumn
Spring bulbs teach patience better than most things in the garden.
In fall we dig holes in bare earth. We place bulbs into darkness, cover them, and walk away. Winter rain falls. Frost comes. The garden sleeps.
Yet underground the bulbs are not dead.
Then one February or March morning, perhaps when winter has overstayed its welcome, a few pointed green leaves break through the soil. Soon there are buds. Then the first trumpet opens.
After that come dozens.
Perhaps, in time, hundreds.
So plant daffodils generously this fall. Put them beneath trees, along the garden path, among the perennials, around the old fence, and down the bank where they can multiply undisturbed.
Plant enough that one spring morning you can stand among them and understand exactly what Wordsworth meant when he remembered that his heart:
“with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.”
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