Looking like a platinum-blond pheasant’s-eye narcissus, ‘Dreamlight’ features a wide, flat, rippled eye of champagne-white that’s perfectly set off by a narrow ribbon of orange suffused with pink. Backed by round, moon-like petals, it’s ethereal and unique – and in 2009 it won the Wister Award, the American Daffodil Society’s highest honor! 3 W-GWR, 17-19”, late-blooming, zones 5-7S/9WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

Nameless but thriving, ‘Early Pearl’ was rediscovered in old gardens of the Southeast’s “Spanish Moss Belt.” Early to bloom and best where summers are hot, it has starry white petals, tiny citron cups that mature to white, and a fresher scent than most tazettas. Experts believe it dates to the late 1800s. 8 W-Y, 14-16”, zones 8-9S/11WC, big, fat California bulbs. Chart to compare.

Any Top Ten list of history’s greatest daffodils would have to include this legendary trumpet. Once the world’s best-known and best-loved, it’s been “commercially extinct” for decades, preserved by just a handful of collectors — and we’re thrilled to have enough to offer it. With a deep gold trumpet and a distinctive wiggle to its softer yellow petals, it’s a daffodil for the ages. 1 Y-Y, 18-20”, zones 5-8aS/10WC, Holland. Chart to compare.

Great outside where winters aren’t too cold (zone 6 and warmer), double “Early Cheer” is also our favorite daffodil for winter forcing indoors on pebbles and water. (We’ll send easy directions, or see our Forcing page.) It blooms in frothy clusters of 15-20 richly fragrant florets of creamy, old-lace white flecked with gold. 4 W-Y, 14-16”, zones 6-9S/11WC, fresh, fat California bulbs. Chart to compare.

This stunning short-cup daffodil has “a remarkable eye of solid, deep rich red,” to quote Albert Calvert in his monumental 1929 Daffodil Growing for Pleasure and Profit. That may be a bit exaggerated, but the first time this graceful antique bloomed here, the intense color of its flat, rippled cup bowled us over. 3 W-R, 18-20”, zones 5-7bS/9WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

With clustered florets almost twice the size of most poetazes, and sun-proof, juicy orange cups that stay vibrant day after day, this enticingly fragrant, multiple award-winner is an absolute knock-out. 8 W-O, 18-20”, zones 5b-8bS/10WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

Last offered in 2005, this fragrant beauty survives from the dawn of the 20th century when the wildflowery grace of pheasant’s-eye narcissus made them especially popular. With snow-white petals and an eye of old gold trimmed with red, it’s named for 800-year-old Lisse, home of the world famous Keukenhof bulb gardens. 9 W-YYR, 18-20”, zones 4-7S/9WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.

“If I could have but one,” wrote A.M. Kirby in 1907 in America’s first book about daffodils, “I would choose this.” It’s a favorite of ours, too, a glorious Victorian trumpet full of wildflower vigor and grace. It’s extra early, blooming as the crocus fade, and multiplies with gusto. 1 Y-Y, 14-15”, zones 4-7S/9WC, from Holland. Chart to compare.