Growing in Grass
Daffodils naturalise easily in grass or beneath deciduous trees that, stripped of leaves in winter, allow sunshine to warm the ground. Once established, naturalised bulbs return year after year, with the clumps increasing in size. “More than anything else, daffodils shout spring, especially the yellow ones. They tend to appear when not much else in the garden is flowering, and attract pollinating insects,” says Christine Skelmersdale. She is the author of A Gardener’s Guide to Bulbs and proprietor of bulb specialist Broadleigh Bulbs. Christine has experimented for decades with naturalised bulbs in her own Somerset garden. There she grows both wild as well as small trumpet daffodils such as the dwarf bi-colour narcissus ‘Topolino’. Dating back to 1923, this has received an RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM), a hallmark of its gardenworthiness. “I choose shorter daffodils to naturalise in grass as large varieties look out of place. I also like daffodils such as ‘February Gold’, or ‘Jack Snipe’ with its recurved petals,” she says. “‘February Gold’ is very long-lasting, with an iron constitution. It is perfect for massing in grass under trees, or planting among shrubs. One of the first to flower, it lives up to its name most springs.”
Getting the mix right
While these are old varieties, all modern hybrids will grow in grass. However, if the flowers are too showy, they may not suit a natural setting. “The choice of daffodils depends on the effect you want to create,” says Christine. “Never mix early and mid-spring varieties, however, because you’ll have dying flowers in among the freshly-opened ones.” However, it is possible to mix early and late-flowering varieties. This succeeds well when the early ones are short, such as 9½in (24cm) high ‘Pipit’ or ‘Minnow’. Sweetly fragrant ‘Pipit’ bears two or three lemon-yellow flowers per stem, the cups quickly fading to creamy-white. Standing just 6in (15cm) high, ‘Minnow’ is a tazetta daffodil, a type which has several heads on each stem. Later varieties include the taller, later ‘Pheasant’s Eye’ with its white petals and orange button centre, or the scented golden yellow ‘Quail’. As the grass grows, it hides the dying daffodil foliage.