Basic Collection of Daffodils

Present Garden Favorites

No garden would be a garden without "Yellow Daffodils" bobbing and weaving in early spring as they dance to the winds. 'King Alfred' types are what most people think about when they think of daffodils. By whatever they are sold as, such as 'King Alfred' type, 'Flower Cover', 'Carlton', 'Dutch Masters' etc., nothing beats the big yellow blooms to brighten up the spring.

'Beersheba', 'Mount Hood', 'Empresses of Ireland', 'Camelot', 'Thalia', 'Ice Follies', and others, are excellent "white" garden flowers. 'Polly's Pearl' is a nice fragrance tazetta that should be considered with the whites.

No garden should be without 'Barret Browning' a short cupped white daffodil with a red center. There are a number of short cupped daffodils that make additions to a great garden collection, including 'Colley Gate' that can double as a show flower, and 'Tullybeg', and 'Queen of the North'.

A garden should not be without pink. My choice for pink is 'Fragrant Rose', which after it's name has a faint "rose" smell to it, hence the name. "Roseworthy' is another of my naturalized favorites that just keeps producing every year.

I love all the orange daffodils, however, they are to my experience, not good naturalizers. They do well in prepared garden beds, such as 'Creag Stiel', 'Bossa Nova', 'Romany Red' an orange with a red center, and 'Charleston'.

Let's not forget the jonquils, especially N. jonquilla jonquilla that has small, all yellow, blooms that seem to twinkle in the garden. Some of its hybridized versions such as 'Sweetness', and 'Treviathan' make beautiful clumps to greet the spring.

Traditional Garden Favorites

My latest bloomers are wild hybrids, N. medioluteus known commonly as 'Twin Sisters', and N. gracilis. Both of these are white with yellow cups. Well, gracilis is more of a soft yellowish cream, but 'Twin Sisters' is pristine white. They start about 2 weeks after the last blooms of the other daffodils in the garden.

A tradition that goes back a few hundred years is the poeticus daffodils, from 'Pheasant's Eye, to 'Cantibile'. With their petals whiter then white, and a pleasing contrast of red in the cup, they are a pleasant addition to the home garden.

Of the traditional Yellow Daffodils, go with the 'King Alfred' type, with maybe a 'Las Vegas' which is not all yellow, or something like 'Yellow Sun'. All great in the garden.

My latest yellow? My latest would be 'Baby Moon', a miniature golden yellow jonquil. Very nice scent, and blooms for a good time. Foliage looks nice, too. Oh, I forgot 'Hawera'! A bit later than 'Baby Moon', but soft yellow. Gorgeous.

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