“Known for decades as THE pink daffodil, ‘Mrs. R.O. Backhouse’ is one of the landmark bulbs of the 20th century. She’s more truly ivory and apricot, but so beautiful – a veritable sunrise for those who watch closely – that most modern pinks just can’t compare. 2 W-P, 16-18”, zones 4a-8a(10bWC), from Holland. Chart and care.

This refined, up-town cousin of everybody’s favorite ‘Thalia’ sets the hearts of daffodil connoisseurs aflutter. It’s sublimely graceful, with smoother, thicker, more shapely petals of a white that expert Michael Jefferson-Brown calls “dazzling in its purity.” 5 W-W, 18-20”, zones 5a-8a(10bWC), from Holland. Chart and care.

This exuberant double has been a cottage garden favorite for centuries, much like its fraternal twin ‘Butter and Eggs’. With whorls of cream-colored petals and ruffled bits of orange, it’s not only one of the best doubles for the South but, as E.A. Bowles wrote in the 1930s, “still grown wherever gardeners are wise enough to value old plants of reliably vigorous constitution.” 4 W-O, 16-18”, zones 5b-8b(10bWC), from Wisconsin. Chart and care.

The poet’s narcissus grows wild in alpine meadows from Spain into the Balkans and is pictured in English herbals of the early 1600s. This form is the oldest available and, though it dates officially to 1831, it’s indistinguishable from those in colonial gardens. It’s famously fragrant and late-blooming, with sparkling white petals that arch back from a “green eye and crimson-fringed crown” (William Robinson). Wister Award winner (see more), 13 W-YYR, 12-14”, zones 4a-6b(8bWC), from Holland. Chart and care.

Although it’s disappearing from the marketplace, this sparkling white daffodil is just too good to let go. Its broad white petals surround a tiny, ruffled cup that opens citron yellow and matures to pure white with a cool glimmer of spring green deep in the center. 3 W-W, mid-late blooming, 14-18”, zones 4a-7b(9bWC), from Holland. Chart and care.

Extra-early and extra-beautiful, this wildflowery trumpet daffodil is a bicolor N. pseudonarcissus (see Lent lily). Millions were once harvested for bouquets sold in London’s Covent Garden, and it’s great for naturalizing. As daffodil connoisseur Alec Gray wrote in 1955, “a drift of it is a thing of... lightness and grace.” 1 W-Y, 14-16”, zones 5a-8a(10bWC), from Holland. Chart and care.

With her elegant, snow-white petals and fluted lemon cup, this ‘Queen’ is as cool as a frosty glass of lemonade. “Certainly one of the most beautiful of all daffodils,” the great Pennsylvania plantsman John Wister wrote in 1930, and she’s still winning blue ribbons in daffodil shows all across the country today! 3 W-Y, 16-18”, zones 4a-7b(9bWC), from Holland. Chart and care.

‘Rip’ is a definite cutie. Early and dwarf, its spiky little blooms look like tiny yellow suns, cactus dahlias, sea anemones, or even mop-headed elves – depending on your imagination. It’s also cheap and wonderfully easy to force. 4 Y-Y, 6-8”, zones 4a-7b(9bWC), from Holland. Chart and care.

This RHS Award of Garden Merit winner caused a sensation when it was first introduced, and although increasingly hard to find, it’s still a remarkably beautiful daffodil. More richly colored than our older “pinks,” it has sparkling white petals and a short, lobed cup that opens peach-to-coral and gets rosier every day. 2 W-P, late-mid, 16-20”, zones 4a-8a(10aWC), from Holland. Chart and care.

True stock! As fragrant as any rose, this elegant, double pheasant’s-eye was bred by Guy Wilson, the shy Irish fellow who gave the world ‘Broughshane’ and dozens of other impeccable daffodils. With blowsy whorls of ivory white petals it looks like an old-fashioned rose, too. Best in cool, moist spots with well-drained soil. 4 W-W, 16-18”, zones 4a-6b(8bWC), from Holland. Chart and care.