Why do my daffs always flower earlier than other peoples? 31 December 2021 at 5:08PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 9 replies 221 views

Spender£

My daffodils always come up and flower well before any others i see in the area, last year they were in full bloom in the middle of January in very cold weather, these look like the regular yellow variety when they flower but is there a certain variety that is renowned for early flowering?

These were already in the ground before we moved in so i don't know who put them there!

Farway

Not sure about early flowering variety but I expect there is, certainly there are late flowering ones. Have you tried searching on line for early flowering daffs?

For instance I just did and had a few hits, including this one https://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/narcissus-rijnvelds-early-sensation/classid.2000017401/

fatbelly

Yes I would say it's the variety but I wouldn't know which one. I have seen some that flower at Christmas but I've not spotted one in flower yet this year. Mine are still invisible.

RAS

Some varieties are much earlier than the common ones and others much later. One possibility is

Narcissus Rijnveld's Early Sensation: £7.49

donemedosh

Some Daffs do flower early around Feb time (febuary gold being one) & there are a few that can be in flower at christmas. But they may well flower early because they like the position they are in sheltered soil etc. I have daffs on either side of my garden & its always S/E facing side to flower first by weeks some years

Mojisola

I would say a combination of variety and position.

MalMonroe

And also, could it be the soil? Yours could be really good quality, better than your neighbours if the people before you took exceptional care of their garden. My Dad used to and he always said it was most important not to neglect soil if you wanted things to grow. He grew many flower varieties and on the other side, many veg.

Our daffs start coming up mid to end January, after the crocuses. Snowdrops are first though, they'll be coming up soon and they last for weeks. Same thing as you, though, they were here before we came. And they just keep coming every year and all the plants withstand cold, frost and snow. Quite spectacular, really when we haven't had to do a thing. 

thriftwizard

Also how far south & west you are... we're near the south coast, but in the middle going east-west; my brother further west & south generally has daffs flowering at least a week before we do, but my son in south-west Wales is two weeks behind us. Height's also an issue; another brother is also further west, but much higher up (300m as opposed to our 30m) and he's also behind us. So, many possible factors as well as variety!

twopenny

Yes, there are an increasing number of varieties that bloom now.
We have them at the roadside here in the south west already and they've put some in the park now.  It's cheering but weird.
There are some old ornamental plumbs that bloom through Christmas. I tried some cuttings but they didn't survive my move. 
Finding these early bloomers is hard because what it says on the packet is not always what happens.
Lucky you.

Slinky

I spotted a snowdrop in bloom the Sunday before Christmas.  We've got a couple of roses just opened up which are white, when normally they're cream with pink edges to the leaves. Nature does do strange things!