Early and late daffodils that perennialize well

I want to put in a lot of dafs close to our street, in a bed of pachysandra. I'd like to have several successions of blooms each season. It is easy enough to find early/midseason blooms. But what early bloomers would be sturdy and perennialize? And what late season bloomers would be sturdy and perennialize? I understand that a late frost or early heat wave can doom the flowers in any given year, and that's ok, so long as the bulbs perennialize and will make a go of it the following year. I'm in the northern tip of 7a.

Many thanks!

i'll be waiting for the info :-)

The Flower Bulb Research group at Cornell University did a study of over 60 varieties of narcissus in 3 different US climates and both sun and shade to determine which were best at perennializing. The results after 4 years were published in their 2004 newsletter at the following link--the table on page 2 of the pdf has the data you need for sunny plots:

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/department/faculty/wmiller/bulb/Narc_peren=MCP__Apr04.pdf

The 3 test regions were Ithaca NY zone 5 and Long Island zone 6-7 and Clemson SC which they consider to be Zone 7.. They planted 20 bulbs of each and then counted the number of blooms produced at the end of 4 years.

They don't list whether the bulbs are considered early, mid, or late season, but I would think that would be easy to find from bulb catalogs once you have picked out the best perennializers (the most blooms after 4 years) in your zone.



Chris

Chris: What a great resource -- just what I was looking for! Many thanks! Now on to the early/middle/late determination.

Chris, thank you for this site. I just printed it out. I think I now have 40 named ones in the ground with 10 more on order for the fall (so far), plus a bunch of ones that I need to Id. But this information will greatly influence my future choices. Patti

What are good sources of inexpensive bulbs?

I've had good luck with late season bulb sales from Blooming Bulbs and Brent & Becky's... you run the risk that your favorites will be out of stock, but I find they always have something left that's high on my wish list, and that way I get nice big bulbs at good prices. Of course, then we have to have weather that co-operates for planting in December... but I figure if it comes down to it, I can probably put a bunch of bulbs in big tubs of potting soil to overwinter (outside against the foundation) and plant out in early spring.

Suzy (Illoquin) posted some great advice on planting daffodils for naturalized "drifts" of different varieties... let me see if I can find the thread in cottage gardening... http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/701974/

The daff & DL bed in the middle of our backyard has yellow jonquils and 'Ice Follies' daffs for early bloomers, 'Yellow Cheerfulness' and 'Geranium' daffs for late bloomers... some were just planted last fall, so are coming up a little late their first year (which I've come to expect), but I'm hoping the timing will work out the way I envision it!

One source I like for ordering in quantity is Van Engelen

www.vanengelen.com

which is the wholesale arm of John Scheepers bulbs, but you don't have be a professional or reseller to order from them. Very good quality. There is a higher minimum number of bulbs per order--some times it's 20 bulbs, sometimes 50, sometimes 100 depending on the variety. Last year I found prices down to around $0.25 ea when you buy 100 but -some are considerably higher. You would need to do a side by side comparison of each variety from the latest catalogs. They don't offer everything, but I found several from the Cornell list.

The Colorblends site sorts out the bulb bloom by season: very early, early, and so on...and that is helpful for me to sort out 'what blooms when'. Here's a link for the site--look on the left column for 'bloom times'.

http://www.colorblends.com/Early

And this Scheepers perennializing collection is on sale right now...and could be interesting...

http://www.johnscheepers.com/catview.cgi?_fn=Item&_recordnum=6621&_category=Website%20Specials

Tabasco -- that Colorblend catalog is really helpful -- thanks for sending me to it!

Very interesting study! Chris thanks for posting. One thing I noticed is that some of the older, heirloom varieties were well represented on the list as good candidates. I have been ordering from Old House Gardens and they carry these varieties of daffodils. You might want to check their catalog too. They have an excellent rating on Garden Watchdog too.

Sue

Old House Gardens - Daffodils
http://www.oldhousegardens.com/bulb.asp?Cat=DA

Oh and I almost forgot that Old House Gardens has a nice chart listing all the daffodils and when they bloom with their attributes. This link takes you to the chart:

http://www.oldhousegardens.com/daffodilBulbs.asp

Check it out.

thanks for the link to the OHG chart. The chart really makes it easy to sort out what blooms when for shows, especially for the 'historic' daff' group.

Do you happen to show daffs? I am thinking about entering some shows (as a beginner) but not this year because of weather issues...It would be nice to enter some of those OHG 'rarest' daffs! So pretty.

I generally order my garden daffs from Van Engelen or Brent & Becky. I do the side-by-side price comparisons and often wait for the post-Thanksgiving internet sales both outfits offer.

Although I admit some of my best daffs have come right from Lowe's and Home Depot--for instance 'Thalia' and 'Delibes' (both good for naturalizing) and the traffic stopper trumpet daffs are good from HD and Lowe's if you want something bright and early.

Tabasco -- No I haven't entered any flower shows. I have thought of it but haven't had the time I guess. I think it would be great if you had a friend that did it so you could get the info and advice from them. I would go for it -- let us know how you make out. I am thinking of going to the Daffodil Show at Tower Hill Botanical Garden here in Bolyston Mass in early May. All sorts of cut flower daffodils. Love to see the judges comments. I'll post pictures if I end up going.

So yes I have ordered from John Scheepers (sister company to VE so must be same quality) and Brent and Becky's for the first time this year. I was so happy with the amaryllis that I got from John Scheeper's I think I'll be pleased. Prior to that I always just picked up daffodils at box stores or local nurseries. And you are right about the quality. When we moved into our house in 1992 that first year I got a whole lot of mixed naturalizing daffodils from Home Depot and wouldn't you know it they have mulitplied and are still blooming great after all these years!

Sue

I also ordered from van Engelen's sale last fall and was just delighted with the bulbs I received! I don't know how I forgot to mention them when I posted above about BB and B&B.

I got a lot of King Alfred daffs very cheaply at Sam's last fall, planted them for my MIL. Most of the bulbs were pretty small, so I'm not surprised that she didn't report a lot of blooms this spring... but I'm hoping they'll grow and put on a show next year!

I also got King Alfred and Dutch Master from sam's last fall. They have done well. They were 70 for $15

Well, it would be hard to beat the 70 for $15 price for anything for the garden! I like to see the bright yellow daffs in early spring although I think the daffodill officianados think that they are a bit too 'eye catching'. I recently read the real "King Alfreds" succumbed to some kind of virus in the Dutch fields some years ago and the ones available these days are generally close approximations. In any case they are a nice jolt of sunshine on these gray days of spring!

Yes, the Tower Hill Daff show is a big one.

FYI Here's the list of Daff shows if anyone out there is interested in attending. I notice a few have been cancelled because of the strange weather pattern this year. The show daffs were all too early, I think. http://daffodilusa.org/events/show.html

FYI, Mr. Ohms, the proprietor of VanEngelens, has a strong interest in Amaryllis breeding and sales and stocks a wide range at good prices and some of the best generally available to the public in the US. Especially the Dutch varieties. (I read this in some commercial gardening journal. LOL)

Tabasco: Are the King Alfred types and Dutch Master considered early?

Yes, in general they are considered 'early mid-season'. I suppose depending on what strain or variety you have they could bloom a bit earlier or later than the 'true' 'King Alfreds'.

Since most of the "King Alfreds' grown in Holland succumbed to a virus some years ago, a newer version of the yellow trumpet, "Marieke", has filled the market void, along with 'Carlton' and a few others. 'Marieke' is nice because its blooms are more upward facing and I believe they can be 'in bloom' for a longer period of time.

Here's the Brent and Becky page for trumpet daffodils. I see they aren't offering any "King Alfreds", although I think the true "King Alfred" is available at Old House Gardens.

http://www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/spring/search/search.php?section=division&criteria=D1

The bags of KA bulbs offered at the garden centers are often unregisteredd strains of yellow trumpet daffs--a very inexpensive and good alternative for bright plantings along driveways, etc. Especially if the area gets a lot of sun and good drainage.

Although, one caveat on those-- I have read critiques from daffodillers in the UK (and the US) complaining that the big yellow trumpets don't look 'natural' and a more restrained variety should be used. In America I think they a great spring show, though. We are a big blousey country and need a big blousey daffodil to fill the voids!

So that's all I've read/know about the King Alfred! I'm no expert on daffs but I like to read about them and I plant a few!