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A Garden of White Daffodils

© Mary Lou Gripshover

White daffodils? Yes, I know most people think of daffodils as yellow, but if you want, you can plant an entire garden with white daffodils, and still have representatives from all divisions of the classification, blooming over a month or more.

Why would you want only white daffodils? Perhaps to have a garden that is just a little bit different. Or maybe you have shrubs blooming at the same time which would clash with the yellow and orange or pink daffodils. White daffodils will fill the bill nicely for early color in the garden. A green and white color scheme is cool and soothing, though cool probably doesn't matter in early spring.

Your white daffodil garden will begin blooming just a few days later than the big yellow trumpet daffodils, but the smallish cyclamineus hybrid, 'Cazique' is one of the first daffodils to bloom in my garden each year. The cup opens yellow, but soon fades to white, and the perianth flies back like those of a cyclamen. (Clever name for the type, don't you think? Cyclamineus hybrids because the petals reflex like a cyclamen.) 'Jenny' and 'Durango' also fit this category, though the cup on 'Jenny' opens yellow. 'Mary Lou,' shown at the top of this page, also fits this category, but blooms later.

The typical trumpet daffodils come in white also. The old 'Mount Hood' still makes a wonderful garden display. You can probably find it at your garden center this fall. Other wonderful white trumpet daffodils are 'Empress of Ireland,' 'Silent Valley,' 'Nile,' and 'Panache.' The old 'Rashee' blooms later, near the end of daffodil season, and is welcome among the shorter cupped daffodils then.

Large cupped daffodils have cups which are shorter than the petals, and some of my favorite daffodils are found in this division. You might try 'Gull' and 'Homestead,' both of which have been awarded The American Daffodil Society's Pannill Award for exhibition flowers. 'Guiding Light' from New Zealand, and 'Who's Who' and 'Lady Diana' from Australia add to the international flair in the garden. Other favorites include 'Silk Cut,' 'Areley Kings,' and 'Stoke Doyle' from Britain; and the elegant 'River Queen' from Virginia. 'Inverpolly' is one of the latest of this type to bloom.

Short-cupped daffodils have cups not more than one-third the length of the petals, and I don't think you can find a better choice than 'Cool Crystal' (pictured). Bred in Oregon, it has won awards on both sides of the Atlantic. 'Verona,' 'Silverwood,' and 'Angel,' are all great choices. And if you can locate 'Dallas,' by all means add it to your garden. It is one of the whitest daffodils, and blooms at the end of daffodil season. A bloom of 'Dallas' held up next to many other white daffodils makes the others look gray in comparison.

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