Top Ten Daffodils for the Longest Blooming Season

How can you choose among the thousands of daffodils? Start with this list, for the daffodils that are first to bloom, and last to close out the season, with lots of lovelies in between. 

I chose these top ten, must-grow daffodils because:

• They offer a flower show through the entire daffodil season -- early, mid-season, and late bloomers.
• They perennialize well (they'll keep on producing baby bulbs over the years).
• They're Wister Award winners, recognized by the American Daffodil Society as both beautiful and reliable. 

Well, 9 out of 10 are Wister Award winners. I tacked on 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' because it's always been the first to bloom in my garden. And when we're waiting for the beginning of spring, first to bloom means a lot.

Early

• Trumpet 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation', 14" tall, yellow, zones 3-7
• Cyclamineus 'Tete-a-Tete', 6" tall, yellow, zones 4-8
• Small cupped 'Barrett Browning', 14" tall, white with orange cup, zones 3-10

Mid-season

• Poeticus 'Actaea', 16" tall, white with yellow cup, zones 3-7
• Large cupped 'Ice Follies', 18" tall, white with yellow cup, zones 3-7
• Large cupped 'Salome', 14" tall, ivory with peach cup, zones 3-8
• Cyclamineus 'Peeping Tom', 12" tall, yellow, zones 3-8
• Large cupped 'Accent', 18" tall, white with salmon cup, zones 3-7

Late

• Jonquilla 'Quail', 12" tall, yellow, zones 5-9
• Triandrus 'Thalia', 14" tall, ivory, zones 4-10

* Warmest zone listings are for the West Coast, where the summer temps are cooler than the Southwest or Deep South. 

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Best Daffodils for your Region

Wondering which daffodils will succeed in your garden? 

Will 'Barrett Browning' thrive in your county?

It's more than knowing a daffodil will bloom in "USDA zone 7", when zone 7 gardens can be found in the arid Sierra Nevada foothills, or humid Washington, D.C.

Luckily, a past president of the American Daffodil Society wrote an article on regional daffodil favorites. 

Click to read Mary Lou Gripshover's advice about "Daffodils: Regional Proven Performers" in the American  Horticultural Society's magazine, The American Gardener. 

You'll find her suggestions for the Pacific Northwest, Southern California/South, the Upper Midwest/Mountain States, and the Mid-Atlantic. 

As well, she recommends bulb companies and bulb books.

To read more in-depth articles like this, join the non-profit American Horticultural Society and receive the members-only magazine, The American Gardener.