Delightfully daffy! Time to start planning your spring planting

By Nigel Colborn
Updated:

This might seem an odd time to think of spring narcissus, but the bulbs are on sale now. It's important, though, to think about where they'll grow and which are the most suitable varieties.

There are hundreds of elegant alternatives which flower in white, lemon or cream, sometimes with contrasting centres and often a bewitching perfume.

Almost all are easy to grow and now is the time to plant. Narcissi are classified into 13 family groups. They include the Jonquils, Pheasant Eye or Poeticus varieties and multi-headed Tazettas. White, red-cupped N. poeticus recurvus, pheasant eye narcissus, is prettiest in its group and the last to flower, usually in May.

All-rounder: The multi-headed Tazetta narcissus

All-rounder: The multi-headed Tazetta narcissus

Naturalise it in grass or dot bulbs among perennials. If you prefer named poeticus varieties, try 'Cantabile', whose white flowers have green and orange central 'eyes' and grows 25cm high.

For cutting, you might want the larger, taller, stiffer-stemmed 'Actaea' — a pheasant eye on steroids. Jonquils are fussier than other narcissi and some are only marginally hardy.

My favourite, the muskily fragrant 'Bobbysoxer', has butter-yellow petals with gold cups and grows 20cm high. These are excellent in a border front, but also do beautifully in pots. Tazetta narcissus are always multi-headed and usually sweet smelling.

Richly fragrant N. 'Geranium' is best for picking — nice long stems, small, scarlet-orange cups and white petals

Richly fragrant N. 'Geranium' is best for picking — nice long stems, small, scarlet-orange cups and white petals. But if you prefer gentler colours, 'Avalanche' has white petals with lemon cups.

White flowers can look classier than yellow ones in natural drifts. Under flowering cherries, for instance, a carpet of the creamy trumpet daffodil 'Mount Hood' would look superb.

I'm especially fond of Cyclamineus daffodils, whose petals tend to be swept back, giving them extra elegance. White and creamy varieties abound, with 'Dove Wings' and 'Toto' performing well for me.

You might not find all these varieties at garden centres, but specialist suppliers should have them, and bulbs are perfect for mail order.

Narcissi will grow almost anywhere, but prefer deep planting in sun or semi-shade, in soil which doesn't dry completely in summer. If you grow them in a container, use a good quality, moisture-retaining medium.

You'll have to wait until spring for most of your new treasures to flower, but there's one delightful exception. Buy bulbs of 'Paper White' (Narcissus papyraceous) and plant in gravel, in a bowl half filled with water.

In warmth and light, the first, fragrant flowers should open within four weeks — about as instant as bulb growing gets.

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