Daffodils - Yellow Pest or Harbinger of Spring?

Narcissus Dutch Master. 
Garish and very, very yellow.

Many people have a deep, dark secret; whenever they hear another garden visitor utter the words "Daffodils! How lovely! Spring has arrived!", they cannot help but think "Yuk!  Can't stand the blasted yellow things."  But, of course, they never dare speak out and say so, as to do so might mark them as a pariah of the gardening world.

However, the attitude is much more common than might be believed; for many years, I myself used to look at the Yellow Perils with disdain.  They just seemed so ... well, ugly, for want of a better word.  Garish yellow heads on a stiff upright stalk that also managed to be unattractive in its own right, with those spade-like leaves that start to flop and look tatty so quickly.  Snowdrops, crocus, even many tulips just seemed so much more elegant, somehow.  Daffodils did not, contrary to popular opinion, nod gently and delicately in the breeze, but came up and smacked you round the face like a thug demanding all your attention, or worse, your wallet.  I could cope, and even appreciate - to a degree - a whole field of daffodils, seen at a distance, (such as at Stonewall Park - a local garden open for the NGS) but a small clump here and there seemed so crass and out of place.

Narcissus Bulbicodium - the "Hoop Petticoat".
Cute, and much more elegant.

The problem seems to be that very few people outside of the gardening world understand that there are many, many more daffodils out there than that brazen hussy of the type, the Dutch Master, the yellow thug that appears in local parks, gardens and hedgerows.  This cultivar has, almost single-handedly, given the genus a terribly bad name; available for a few pence each in nets of 20 kilos or more to landscapers and  local authorities, it seems to be the daffodil of choice for municipal parks and gardens.

Narcissus Rip Van Winkle.  A relatively small double
daffodil, which we have heard a number
of members asking about.

But the daffodil family is immense; there are over 10 divisions specified for exhibiting in shows, including the one that actually says "none of the other divisions, because we can't just keep adding more and more divisions even though we really, really need to".  It is almost impossible not to find a variety that you do not like, whether it is one of the smaller varieties such as Tete-a-Tete, or the small double Rip Van Winkle (both of which do well in the Hurst Green clay), to the tiny bulbicodiums known as "hoop petticoats".  Then there are the later flowering Poet's Daffodils (Narcissus Poeticus), which are much more refined, to the split coronas and the doubles that flounce their wares like the curtains in a  French Madam's boudoir (Ed - or so you have been told, I suppose?).  If you like fragrant plants, try growing Bridal Crown or Avalanche in pots and bring them inside when in flower.

Narcissus Bridal Crown - scented and multiheaded.
Also very pretty.
Image courtesy of crocus.co.uk

The point is that not all daffodils are the garish yellow municipal variety that you see in all of our parks and gardens.  We do have our spring competition against Godstone coming up on the 15th April, and it is an ideal opportunity to see a variety of types of daffodil close up - so do come along and be prepared to give daffodils a chance!