9 Daffodils to Cheer Up Your Garden

When you hear ‘daffodil’, you picture a trumpet daffodil. One blossom per stem, this archetypal flower comes in many colors and combinations, though we always imagine them in their classic bright yellow.

A large group of daffodil types, all with multiple layers of petals, are known as double daffodils. The Tahiti’s bright orange and yellow is exceptionally stunning, but watch out—some double varieties grow too heavy for their own stem! 

The Petit Four is a type of double daffodil that features a double cup. With a look that’s as delicate as the miniature French cookies it’s named after, the Petite Four flower will thrive in partial shade.

The dwarf Jetfire combines a yellow perianth (outer petals) with an orange trumpet to dazzling, if teeny-tiny, effect. The flower reaches a mature height of just ten inches during its mid-spring bloom.

This group of daffodils has a split corona (also called ‘trumpet’ or ‘cup’) that opens the whole face of the blossom. It will bloom mid-season and be the star of both your garden and your bouquet—split corona daffodils survive well after being cut.

This beautiful heirloom variety daffodil, Actaea, has a short, yellow cup and is edged in red at the center of its pure white outer petals. Also called the Poet’s Daffodil, it was one of the first daffodils to be cultivated.

The Spiky Rip Van Winkle heirloom double daffodil dates to 1884, though its literary figure namesake is much older than that. The narrow and spiky yellow petals look like a starburst and bloom well in a garden or a pot.

These daffodils look a little bit like an old fashioned megaphone, but also, as their name would suggest, a hoop petticoat. With large trumpets and small petals, this variety is not easy to find, but for the adventurous gardener they are an entertaining diversion from the common daffodil.

If you just can’t wait until April for a bit of flowery fragrance in your home, you can force the Paperwhite Narcissus in a pot or vase any time from Thanksgiving until spring. These sweetly scented flowers with bluegreen leaves are sure to banish winter doldrums.

You can find out more about daffodils, including planting, care, and maintenance in Dreaming of Daffodils. For more on gardening and lawn care, consider:

10 Low-Maintenance Mums

Mulching Your Flowerbeds

18 Ways to Color Your Garden