Daff-Idyll
Easy, dependable daffodils mean beauty with little effort

By Sue Goldberg I Photography by Ryan Kurtz

Hurst Sloniker remembers childhood gifts from his uncle that nurtured a growing fascination with gardening—daffodil bulbs. Sloniker’s partner, Bill Lee, got the bug from his grandmother, an avid gardener and florist. Flower shows, fellow gardeners and the allure of collecting unique specimens sustained their interest. When the time was ripe, the pair teamed up to cultivate Honey Hill, a fabulous former working farm that’s now their home and homage to the daffodil.

If you hadn’t driven past the fast-food restaurants on Eastgate Boulevard to get here, you’d never believe that this secluded Clermont County home site is actually minutes from civilization. Meandering stretches of beds wrap around the perimeter of Honey Hill’s field-sized garden. The earth slopes off into surrounding woods where naturalized daffodils run rampant in colorful spring drifts. A Shinto shrine, texturally rich stone urns, inviting benches and sculptures are artfully placed adding definition to each area’s plantings. A collection of conifers, which includes a glorious golden-dipped Dragon’s Eye pine, as well as magnolias and Japanese maples, stand sentry around the garden.

But the real superstars of the garden are the nearly 1,100 varieties of “fluttering” daffodils, as Wordsworth wrote, “dancing in the breeze.”

Yes, nearly 1,100! Because you see this spring flower growing around practically every suburban tree in the Tristate, it’s easy to assume that a daffodil is a daffodil. Lee, a vice president of the American Daffodil Society and a former editor of the organization’s The Daffodil Journal, is quick to point out that this garden is only a slim representation of what’s available.

“There are over 20,000 registered daffodils,” Lee emphasizes.

But while the number of varieties sounds overwhelming, growing them definitely is not. “Daffodils are the lazy person’s plant,” Lee laughs.

'Actaea' Poeticus

Get Growing

Most daffodils bloom in the early spring over a period of six weeks or longer depending on the weather and type of cultivar. Pick a sunny location with good drainage.

“They don’t want to be in soggy places,” Lee says. “We always like to say they don’t like to have their feet wet. They go dormant in the summer, and they have to be as dry as possible.”

Clever gardeners can maximize plantings of these sun-loving flowers by using sunny spaces that will be cloaked in shade later in the season. “You can plant them under trees,” Sloniker suggests. The early spring season means daffodils are blooming before deciduous trees are decked out with new leaves.

Make a generous hole and plant bulbs pointed-end up, around 6 to 8 inches deep depending on the size of bulb (larger bulbs go deeper). Space bulbs about 6 inches apart.

Gardeners will rarely need to worry about fertilizing, especially for new beds. But for worn-out soil, Lee recommends 5-10-10 or 5-15-15 fertilizer, not touching the bulb.

“And then you just leave them alone.” Lee says. “You let them come up. You let them grow; you let them flower. You don’t do anything to their foliage. You don’t tie them up in cute little braids a la Martha Stewart.”

For those of us tempted to cut the leaves off or tie them down for the sake of tidiness, Lee explains that the end result will mean fewer or no blooms for next year. Leaf surface is important because it absorbs energy from the sun, then stores it for next year’s flowers. No leaves, no flowers. Instead, wait until the leaves turn yellow, brown or have all fallen down. Then just pick them up and pull them off.

And set the shears aside. “It’s not advised to cut them, because if this plant has a disease and you come over here and cut [another] plant, you’re Typhoid Mary,” Lee says. “You’ve just come over here and spread the disease to that plant with your scissors or shears.”

In established plots, a little fertilizer in mid-fall will give growing bulbs a boost. But forget about work during the summer months. That’s when daffodils go dormant.

“The roots all dry up,” Lee says. “Then in the fall, they start to put down roots again, and they’re getting ready for their growing season.” 

Divide and Conquer

Fortunately daffodils are the “hakuna matata” flowers of the spring. No worries. Deer don’t like them, and very few diseases and insect problems exist. If formerly happy bulbs suddenly stop producing, get curious. Look at the surrounding landscape. Have growing trees created a shady canopy over a formerly sunny location? Are flowers growing so close together that they’re crowded for space? Are eager tree roots competing for nutrients and space?

“They’ll tell you,” Lee says. “When they stop blooming, they need something.”

 If bulbs are in need of extra room or need to be moved, it’s time to do a little digging and dividing.

“The best time to dig is just as that foliage is turning yellow,” Lee says. “So you know where they are.”

“Usually around late June or July,” Sloniker adds.

“I prefer to keep them out of the ground and plant them again in the fall when the soil starts to cool down again,” Lee says. For storing bulbs, Lee suggests a cool, shady spot. “We put them in mesh bags and hang them from nails in the barn. You can even just put newspaper down on the floor of your garage and scatter them there.”

But plastic bags are off limits. “They need to breathe,” Lee explains. “[With plastic] bags you’ll have sludge when you go to plant them.” 

'Cheerfulness' Double Cup

A Few Favorites

There are 13 major divisions (give or take, according to experts) among Narcissus, the Latin, or botanical, name for what we commonly call the daffodil. Each division most often refers to the variations in corona (cup) size, perianth segment (petal) characteristics or the number of blooms per stem. (Turn the page for a description of the 13 divisions.)

So how does a gardener establish a favorite from among so many choices?

“Well, you know the standard answer is, ‘It’s what I’m looking at right now, that’s a favorite,’” Sloniker says with a smile. 

Cyclamineus and Large Trumpet
But when pressed, this experienced collector leans toward the very early blooming cyclamineus. He enjoys the flower’s reflexed petals, which give this division a wind-swept appearance. Daffodils with large trumpets, especially some of the newer orange- or red-cupped varieties, are desirable, too.

“I really like them all,” Sloniker confesses. 

Historic Bulbs
The ADS refers to any cultivars registered before 1940 as historic daffodils. Modern daffodils tend to have brighter color, sturdier stems and better substance or plumper texture than the historic daffodils. “I like the heritage ones simply because I’m interested in history anyway,” Sloniker says. The retired English professor keeps his family’s heirloom tradition going by harvesting bulbs from his uncle’s daffodils, including ‘Laurens Koster’, and sharing them with nephews and nieces. 

Jonquils
Lee, who shares his knowledge of daffodils by giving spring tours at the Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati, remains partial to jonquils.

“The jonquils have a smaller flower, usually two or more flowers per stem, and they’re usually fragrant. Most daffodils are not very fragrant or have a kind of musty odor, but the jonquils are almost all fragrant.” 

All-white varieties
The all-white varieties are the beauties that catch Lee’s eye among the standard daffodils, especially trumpet whites.

“They’re just so crisp and clean looking,” he says. He finds the all-white varieties sometimes hard to grow, because they are more susceptible to rot than some of the standards.

“There’s one I bought almost every year,” Lee says. “It’s the most perfect daffodil, and I couldn’t keep it until I found the right spot for it. And now it’s flourishing.” The cultivar, ‘Gull’, from the large cup division, is now one of his favorites. 

Novelty daffodils
Both gardeners enjoy novelty varieties such as ‘Can Can Girl’ with its large, frilled cup that resembles, you guessed it, a can-can dancer’s petticoat. Novelty daffodils are distinctive blooms that don’t necessarily meet garden show standards, notes Lee, an accredited daffodil judge. But they turn heads and are fun to grow in the garden. 

  
'Cum Laude' Split Cup     'Can-Can Girl' Large Cup

Other favorites
“Any yellow trumpet that is sold locally is going to be good,” Lee says. “And I think the No. 1 daffodil I would recommend for anybody is ‘Fragrant Rose’.” 

The name aptly reflects the flower’s fragrance. “It’s a gorgeous, stunning flower,” Lee says of the large cup division bloom. Other divisions that carry a pleasing fragrance are jonquils, tazettas and poeticus.

For interesting form, ‘Sir Winston Churchill’ offers multiple flowers that are double (meaning a double cup or extra petals) and always fragrant. Narcissus bulbocodium, with its dominant hooped-skirt cup, while difficult to grow, offers another striking form.

Sloniker and Lee also collect new introductions of hybridized bulbs offered through catalogues of national and international hybridizers. For these newly offered varieties, it’s not unusual to pay $25 or more per bulb. New introductions strive for brighter colors, good health, rapid increase and perfection of form. Because they are not available yet in market quantity, hybridizers will donate especially rare bulbs to auction off at events such as the annual ADS convention. Single bulbs have been auctioned for sums as high as $500.

Good Companions

Daffodils such as jonquils are beautiful in large naturalized drifts, but when opting for a flowery mix, Lee and Sloniker suggest planting complementary spring bulbs such as crocus and scilla. Just about any sun-loving plant that tolerates infrequent watering will make a great companion planting.

“You don’t want those beds soaking wet in the summer when the daffodils are dormant,” Lee explains. “I use a lot of echinacea. I love the new varieties that are coming out every year.”

Try anything in the rudbeckia family, or use liatris, marigolds and peonies to complement daffodils. “Daylilies are the classic daffodil companion,” Lee says.

“Of course there are annuals such as zinnias and marigolds that you can plant for picking once the daffodils are finished,” Sloniker adds.

While the daffodils are here, though, Honey Hill entices visitors to slow down and savor their beauty. The land is a testament to the know-how of a community of gardeners—past and present—striving for excellence in relationship to the earth. And for those like-minded generations who will arrive after them, the two gardeners have decided to leave this legacy to the local township, creating a nature preserve for everyone’s enjoyment.

“We’re hoping that it will be used for educational purposes—for children most certainly,” Sloniker says.