All About Daffodils | At Home With P. Allen Smith

Rays of sunshine, the easiest flower you'll ever grow. You know, it's just crazy how crazy I am over daffodils. But why wouldn't you be? Just look how beautiful these things are. And there are really three reasons why I love daffodils so much. Well, four. First of all, they start blooming very early in the year. In fact, mine started blooming on the 15th of January, it's the 15th of March, they'll be blooming on the 15th of April. Now, that's not one variety, single variety. That's multiple varieties blooming at different times, and that's what's important. Of course, the other three reasons I'm crazy about daffodils is that, hey, they're one of the easiest bulbs to grow. If you can't grow a daffodil, you might as well just hang it up. The other thing is that a daffodil is perennial, meaning that it comes back year after year. People often get perennial and annual confused. Annual means it only blooms one year. It's an annual. Daffodils are perennials. They're going to come back year after year. That's why I don't mind planting, well, hundreds, maybe sometimes thousands of new varieties of daffodils every year out here. And the other reason that I think daffodils are the greatest is that the deer don't eat them. That's right. So if you've got deer problems and you want an early spring flower that they're not gonna nibble on, they won't be eating on these daffodils. Another fascinating feature of the daffodil is that they come in 12 different divisions, and those divisions are based on the form of the flower. For instance, this one's called a large cup daffodil, which you have as the cup here in the collar. And then this one is a broken cup daffodil, because you can see the cup is actually broken or has a frilly sort of edge. And then this is a double. Look at that beauty. And then this variety is called a tazetta. It has multiple blooms on the stem, and this one is also a tazetta. These are just the different divisions of daffodils. For a natural look, what I do is just naturalize them by casting the bulbs out. Wherever they land, you just plant them there with an auger. They come up in the spring, and you get a display like this. Hey, if you're enjoying these tips on how to bring more beauty into your garden, home, and life, make sure you tell a friend about them and subscribe to eHow Home.