Jetfire is one of everyone’s top cottage garden daffodils
Yellow and orange cottage garden daffodils
are brightening up the garden here and are a great success this year. I learned some lessons last year about which daffodils look better in a cottage style garden and thought I’d pass them on.
Bright short early daffodils perfect for a pot
I now only plant early daffodils –
ones that flower right now in February and early March when there’s not much else to give colour and the garden needs cheering up.
I used to buy the April late flowering ones which are tall, gorgeous and very scented BUT not any more.
Tall and gorgeous, I think this is Falconet.
Firstly they were so tall they often fell flat in bad weather and never stood up again. Secondly they flowered when loads of other things were shooting up and they got lost in the profusion of May.
For me yellow looks better in Feb/March and I don’t need it when the red and purple tulips come in late April/May.
Lastly the leaves of the later varieties are huge big strapping things that stand strong and tall taking months to die down. In a pot that’s a bit of a pain – not much to look at and taking up all the room.
I think this is late flowering “Geranium”, tall and very scented.
So the joy of the early flowering cottage garden daffodils is that they are short and weatherproof. Their leaves are thin and delicate and will have died down by May when I can lift them away leaving the bulb in the pot for next year.
This looks like Jetfire, orange and yellow.
My all time favourite cottage garden daffodils
This year I’ve got Tete a Tete, February Gold, Jetfire, and Topolino. All their bulbs were cherry tomato sized, I could push them into pots and borders with my finger without having to dig any hole at all.
A great catalogue is Walkers Bulbs at bulbs.co.uk with pictures and descriptions to make choosing simple.
Finally here is a container at the very front of the garden for passers by to enjoy crammed with 50 Jetfire reminding us that a good dollop of cheap and cheerful bulbs gives a lot of value rather than a handful of rare and expensive ones. A choice of course but I’m very pleased with this splash of cheerfulness.
Last year I wrote lessons to be learned but I’m not sure I actually took any notice of my own advice here
Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you are enjoying your own daffodils right now.
I had Jetfire last year (New Zealand spring!) and am going to get some more this year. Great flowers!
Glad to know they grow well for you too Barbara, best wishes from Julie here in London
Hello Julie. I live here in the U.S. and was so happy to find your page last year! Daffodils are great as squirrels and deer never go near them, as we all know! Thank you for your informative posts!
Yes you’re right, my daffodils have been untouched and have all come up beautifully. There must be something about the smell of tulip bulbs that attracts squirrels. It’s really making me think. Thanks for your comment, best wishes, Julie
Lovely to see your daffodils. I absolutely agree with you on preferring early flowering varieties. My front garden is peppered with tête-à-tête – I love buying (and getting given) those 50p supermarket pots for indoors and then when they’re done, I plant them outside. Once I bought 30 such pots for 10p each – they had gone over before being sold. I’ve found they clump beautifully and with a bit of dividing I’ve got the whole patch sprinkled with yellow. They are so robust and cheery.
Hi Maggie, gosh what a great idea to buy those cheap pots so you get colour right now and also in future years. I’ve done that in the past from the RHS shows but they don’t do those any more. I am off to the supermarket to see if I can find some. It is so now that we need that splash of yellow isn’t it and thankyou for your lovely comment. Best wishes, Julie
I like Tete-a-tete so grow a group of them on the plot. xx
Mine really are saving these last few weeks from being dull and colourless. Hellebores are all very well but they don’t look like sunshine on a rainy day like lovely little daffs.