Food-Gardening Lessons From A Wartime Victory Garden

When Do Daffodils Come Up in Spring?

“I just planted my daffodils. Now, when will they start to come up, in the spring? Also, can I just leave them in the ground so that they will come up again the following year?” Question from Bev of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Answer: It seems like a question that answers itself, but it is not. Truly, it depends. There are different daffodils that emerge and flower at different times in the spring season. So, the time that your daffodils will emerge depends on the varieties that you planted. (Always make note of your plant’s names, if they are given. They can provide a lot of needed information.)

Daffodil Bloom Times

Daffodils may emerge in early spring (February to March), early to mid-spring (March to April), mid-spring (April), mid-to-late-spring (April-May), or late-spring (May).  The short, golden ‘February Gold‘ is an early spring daffodil that was first introduced in 1923; a good early to mid-spring variety is ‘Barrett Browning‘ with its ivory petals and small, dark-orange cups; lots of tiny cream and gold flowers cover the mid-spring bloomer ‘Minnow‘; ‘Ambergate‘ is a mid-to late-spring bloomer with tangerine and dark orange flowers; finally, ‘Sir Winston Churchill‘ is a fragrant, double-flowered daffodil that blooms late. And, if you plant all of these, you can happy sunny daffodils in your garden from February to May!

Daffodils are wonderfully hardy and naturalize over time. They are also very long-lived in the garden, which is why you commonly see them in big swaths around old homes. So, leave them in the ground. Once their greens tops start to turn brown in late spring, trim them back. The following spring, your daffodils should return in even greater numbers.

(Click here for more information about planting bulbs.)

Happy gardening,

Jessie Keith

Black Gold Horticulturist

About JESSIE KEITH

Plants are the lens Jessie views the world through because they’re all-sustaining. (“They feed, clothe, house and heal us. They produce the air we breathe and even make us smell pretty.”) She’s a garden writer and photographer with degrees in both horticulture and plant biology from Purdue and Michigan State Universities. Her degrees were bolstered by internships at Longwood Gardens and the American Horticultural Society. She has since worked for many horticultural institutions and companies and now manages communications for Sun Gro Horticulture, the parent company of Black Gold. Her joy is sharing all things green and lovely with her two daughters.

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