Garden Tips: The year of the daffodil

Every year, the National Garden Bureau selects one edible crop, one annual flower and one perennial flower to recognize with their “The Year Of” designation. This year, they are also recognizing a bulb and have named 2017 as The Year of the Daffodil.

It has been a very hard winter, and I cannot wait to see some cheery yellow daffodils. How about you? These spring blooming bulbs have their origins in Europe, where they are native in the woodlands and meadows of southern Europe and northern Africa.

It is believed that daffodils have been cultivated in gardens since at least 300 B.C., but they did not become a popular garden flower until after the 1600s. Much later, in the 1800s, they became an important commercial crop of the Netherlands.

The daffodil was introduced to the British by the Romans during their invasion and conquest of the country. Daffodils came to America with early English colonists, and then traveled westward with the pioneers.

Narcissus is the botanical name of the genus to which daffodils belong. The name may have been derived from the Greek word narkissos, or narke, meaning sleep or numbness, perhaps because of the alkaloids in the plant that have a sedative effect on people. The name also could come from the Greek myth about a boy named Narcissus who fell in love with his own reflection and died staring at it. The common name of daffodil is derived from the old English word asphodel, or affodyle, which means “that which comes early.”

When talking to daffodil experts, it can get confusing because there are more than 40 species within the Narcissus genus. The experts have broken the thousands of cultivated varieties into 13 classifications based on species and characteristics. While I appreciate this botanical enthusiasm, I prefer the common category names of daffodil (with large trumpeted bright yellow flowers), jonquil (with smaller yellow fragrant flowers borne in clusters on round, reed-like stems) and paperwhites, or narcissus, (with miniature white fragrant blooms).

One of the best things about these easy-care perennial bulbs is that they return annually if cared for correctly. Here is what you need to know to keep your daffodils returning year after year:

1. Deadheading or removing the faded flowers is fine, but not necessary. However, it is important to allow the leaves of the plant to remain until they turn yellow and shrivel. The green daffodil leaves need to receive at least six weeks of full sunlight after bloom to “feed” the bulb for growth and flowering next year.

2. A light fertilization in the spring just as the leaves start to emerge is advisable if nutrients in the soil are low. Keep fertilizer off the leaves.

3. Native to dry climates, it is best to plant daffodils in areas with well-drained soil and where they will not be kept moist with frequent irrigation during the summer.

4. Plant the bulbs at the recommended depth of three times the height of the bulb. Both planting bulbs too deep and too shallow can both effect bulb growth and flower production.

Lack of bloom is often due to a lack of sunlight or removal of leaves too soon, too much vegetative growth due to over-fertilization with nitrogen, or wet soil conditions resulting in bulb rot. A failure to produce flowers may also be due to a plant virus, poor growing conditions the previous spring, or the bulbs may have become crowded and need to be divided.

One final important note: The sap of daffodils can cause skin rashes, and all parts of the plant, especially the bulb, are poisonous.

This story was originally published March 5, 2017 at 8:20 AM with the headline "Garden Tips: The year of the daffodil."