Shorter daffodils trial results 2022–2023
Objectives and purpose of the trial
What is an RHS Award of Garden Merit?
The RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is intended to help gardeners choose plants that are likely to perform well, and is only awarded to plants that are:
- Excellent for ordinary use in appropriate conditions
- Available
- Good constitution
- Essentially stable in form and colour
- Reasonably resistant to pests and diseases
Judging criteria
The following factors were all taken into consideration as part of the judging of the trial:
- Impact
- Balance of flower to foliage
- Length of flowering
- Health and vigour
Shorter daffodil AGM winners
Why the AGM was awarded
AGMs rescinded
Plants and location
What was planted?
Where was it planted?
Carefully selected shorter daffodil bulbs were planted out in dedicated trial beds in the Trials Garden at RHS Wisley, Surrey. Here are some considerations for planting out shorter daffodils in the ground:
- Daffodils prefer a sunny spot in fertile, well-drained soil
- Avoid planting daffodils in waterlogged soil and deep shade
- Smaller types are ideal at the front of borders or naturalised in short grass
- Daffodils are usually best planted in bold groups, rather than individually
- Try growing in cut-flower beds, for vibrant blooms to brighten up your home in spring
- Plant a range of species for flowers from February through to early May
Cultivation
Planting process
The bulbs were then planted out in the trial beds in October 2021. Sixteen bulbs of each entry were planted in a 4 × 4, 30cm2 blocks using bulb planters. Some very large bulbs were spaced more widely, in 40cm2 blocks. Each entry block was spaced 45cm apart and staggered to allow space for leaves to flop. The beds were mulched with strulch (this was topped up in the second year), which was laid more thinly over the squares of bulbs.
The daffodils were deadheaded after all the flowerheads in that entry had gone over, to improve the look of the trial. After flowering and before the leaves died back, the bulbs were fed with fertiliser applied with water at a 1 in 100 rate. Entries were watered in dry periods as they went over. Once the leaves died back, the holes left by the bulbs leaves and flowers were filled by raking and pushing, to slightly compress the soil. This was to limit Narcissus bulb fly access to the bulbs.
Rogues (a plant that is different from the standard variety) were removed over the course of the trial, and one entry Narcissus ‘Miss Muffit’ was removed completely after the first year due to presentation of virus in the leaves of each bulb.
How plant health was managed
Soil analysis
The pH of the beds was recorded to be 8.4 and 8.3 in September 2021, reducing to 7.4 and 7.8 when the analysis was repeated in February 2023. Some of the entries into the trial were known to prefer a more alkaline pH (Narcissus ‘More and More’ and Narcissus ‘Twinkling Yellow’), while others required acidic soil to persist (Narcissus ‘Angel’s Whisper’, Narcissus ‘Hawera’ and Narcissus ‘Snipe’). This meant that performance was not consistent across all entries.
Challenges
There was poor performance recorded in a number of usually reliable entries in year two, with many bulbs in some entries developing just grassy foliage and no flowers. Small Narcissus bulb fly were discovered to be attacking the bulbs in high numbers.
Small Narcissus bulb fly are common throughout the UK and are thought to attack bulbs that are already damaged. The infestation could have been exacerbated by the shelter of a nearby hedge. Enviromesh netting has been used on previous daffodil trials to prevent the flies laying eggs from May to July, however the late flowering season of some of the daffodils meant flies were already present before the end of the years assessments.
Narcissus ‘Little Oliver’, Narcissus ‘Toto’ and Narcissus ‘Rip van Winkle’ did not reappear in the second year.
Weather
Over the time the bulbs remained in the ground, they were exposed to the hottest recorded temperature at RHS Wisley (hottest temperature of 38.6°C on 19 July 2022) and the coldest start to a winter since 2010 (lowest temperature -8.1°C occurred on 15 December 2022). Overall, there were 47 days with air frost recorded from December 2022 to April 2023, and meant the start to the season was slow. Most entries flowered a week or more later in the second year.
![Sunny daffodils](/getmedia/a9e2bf96-d245-4bf7-bef6-0d15a70b0665/daffodils-web-use-940x627.jpg)
How to grow daffodils
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Discoveries
2022–2023
After digging up a daffodil bulb from the trial, it clearly showed signs of damage caused by the small Narcissus bulb fly.
2022
The RHS Trials Team put on a display as part of the Daffodil Show at RHS Wisley, to showcase the diversity of flowers and encourage show visitors to go and see the trial.
2023
The trial provided the opportunity for some tricky nomenclatural problems to be studied and resolved. Narcissus ‘Mite’ and Narcissus ‘Englander’ were grown side-by-side and some consistent differences were recorded, backing up a study that took place in 2000. We were also able to show that Narcissus ‘Lemon Sailboat’ is also mis-named and is identical to Narcissus ‘Yellow Sailboat’.
Who was involved?
Judges of the trial
The shorter daffodil judges included: Christine Skelmersdale (RHS Bulb Expert Group), Ray Drew (RHS Alpine and Rock Garden Expert Group), Sam Everiss (Horticulturist, RHS Hyde Hall), Fergus Garrett (Great Dixter Head Gardener, Horticultural Educationalist), John Gibson (Bulb expert), Julia Jarman (Horticulturist), Jim McGregor (RHS Alpine and Rock Garden Expert Group), Anna Pavord (Garden writer), Cathy Rollinson (RHS Herbaceous Expert Group) and Johnny Walkers (Daffodil expert).
Suppliers to the trial
- Broadleigh Gardens
- de Jager & Sons Ltd
- Choice Bulbs and Plants – now distributed via Fluwel
- J Parkers
- Jacques Amand
List of plants in the trial
Handy tools and information
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Get in touch
For more information on our RHS Plant Trials or to access older trial reports, please get in touch with our team via email at trials@rhs.org.uk.
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