Daffodil

How to recognise it

Habit

Bulb of 20–35 cm with a tuft of narrow leaves and one flower per stem. After seeding the leaves die back and the bulb rests until autumn.

Leaves

4–6 narrow, flat, grey-green leaves of 20–35 cm, coming straight from the bulb.

Flowers

A single nodding to horizontal flower of about 5 cm: six pale yellow petals around a deep yellow trumpet of about the same length; March–April.

Fruit

A three-chambered capsule with round black seeds, ripe in June.

Roots

An oval bulb of 2–4 cm with a brown tunic and roots underneath; after a few years it forms offsets.

Confusion with

Garden daffodils are larger and often all yellow or white and yellow. Leaves and bulbs are sometimes mistaken for leeks or onions: daffodils do not smell of onion and are poisonous.

Flowering: March–April · Pruning: June

Why grow it?

• One of the first flowers of the year, in March–April, when insects still find little food.
• Bumblebee queens and early bees visit the flowers for nectar and pollen.
• Naturalises year after year in grass under trees and slowly becomes a flowering carpet with little work.
• Finer and more natural than the big garden daffodils, so perfect for a wildlife garden.
• Rabbits, deer and voles usually leave it alone, because the plant is poisonous.

Daffodil: where does it grow best?

• In the wild: damp hay meadows, open deciduous woods, woodland edges and stream valleys, often on slightly acid, humus-rich soil.
• In the garden: sun or light shade, for example in grass under deciduous trees that only leaf up after flowering.
• Humus-rich soil that is moist in spring but not waterlogged: standing water in winter rots the bulbs.
• Ideal in a wildflower meadow, a lawn left uncut until June, a woodland edge or along a hedge.

Goes well with

• Wood anemone: Small white flowers at the same early time, under deciduous trees.
• Snowdrop: Flowers just before and makes spring last longer.
• Lesser celandine: Glossy yellow stars among the daffodils.
• Bluebell: Blue carpets in April, on the same woodland edge.
• Cuckooflower: Takes over in April–May in a damp hay meadow.

Daffodil: when and how to plant it?

1. Buy bulbs of the true wild daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) from a nursery or bulb grower, and ask for cultivated bulbs, not ones collected from the wild.
2. Plant in September–October, as soon as the bulbs are on sale: they dry out quickly.
3. Plant 10–15 cm deep, tip upwards, 10–15 cm apart, in loose groups.
4. In grass: make a hole with a bulb planter, drop in the bulb and replace the plug of turf.
5. For a natural look, scatter the bulbs loosely and plant them where they land.
6. Never dig up bulbs from the wild and do not pick flowers in nature reserves: the wild daffodil is rare.

Care

Water

Not needed: autumn and spring rain is enough.

Feeding

Not needed, certainly not in grass. On poor soil it stays fine and wild.

Mowing

Only mow the grass when the leaves have turned yellow, at least six weeks after flowering, usually from mid-June. The leaves build up reserves for next year.

Spent flowers

Leave them if you want it to self-seed; otherwise cut them off, but always leave the leaves.

Letting it seed

Seedlings take a few years to flower, but this is how a group slowly becomes a carpet.

Tip: When planting, scatter the bulbs loosely and plant them where they land: after a few years it will look as if they have always grown there.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: June.

When: No pruning. Only mow or cut the leaves once they have turned yellow, from mid-June.

How:

• If you like, cut off spent flowers just below the flower and leave the stalk.
• Leave the leaves for at least six weeks after flowering, until they turn yellow and flop over.
• Do not knot or plait the leaves: they then make less food.
• Mow a daffodil meadow from mid-June and remove the cuttings.

Caution: Mow the leaves too early and you will get lots of leaves and few flowers the following year.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Offsets

After a few years the bulbs form congested clumps. Lift them in June–July once the leaves have died back, separate the bulbs and replant them straight away.

Seed

Let the capsules ripen and sow fresh seed in July–August in a pot left outdoors; expect a few years before the first flowers.

Daffodil: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −25 °C.

• The bulb sits safely in the soil and is fully hardy.
• During winter, sometimes as early as January, the first leaf tips push through the soil.
• In hard frost buds and flowers flop over, but they usually stand up again afterwards.

Diseases and pests

• Narcissus fly: The grub eats the bulb from the inside; affected plants only make thin, grassy leaves. Lift and destroy affected bulbs, and firm the soil once the leaves have died back so the fly finds the bulbs less easily.
• Basal rot: On wet soil the bulbs rot. Plant in a spot without standing water.
• No flowers: Caused by mowing too early, too much shade or overcrowded bulbs. Leave the leaves and divide old clumps.
• Skin irritation: The sap from the stems can irritate the skin of people who pick a lot of daffodils or handle bulbs. Wear gloves.

Through the year

• January: The first leaf tips appear.
• February: The leaves grow and buds appear.
• March: Flowering begins. Bumblebee queens on the flowers.
• April: Full flower. Afterwards cut off spent flowers if you like; leave the leaves.
• May: Leave the leaves, even if they look untidy. The seed capsules swell.
• June: The leaves turn yellow. Mow from mid-June and remove the cuttings.
• July: Rest. Lift and divide clumps if needed.
• September: Plant new bulbs 10–15 cm deep.
• October: Plant in grass with a bulb planter.
• December: Resting in the soil. The roots are growing.

Did you know?

• The daffodil is a national emblem of Wales and is worn there on St David’s Day, 1 March.
• The English poet William Wordsworth wrote his famous poem about ‘golden daffodils’ after a walk beside a lake in the Lake District where wild daffodils were flowering.
• Freshly cut daffodils release a slime that makes other cut flowers wilt sooner: stand them in water on their own for a day before putting them with tulips.