Rich with a strong vanilla scent, multiple award-winning Narcissus 'Carlton' is an exquisite, solid golden-yellow daffodil featuring very large flowers, 5 in. across (12 cm), adorned with wide, gracefully frilled cups and broad, overlapping petals. Blooming in mid-spring, this highly popular Large-Cupped Daffodil is a strong performer of immense vigor, and one of the best perennializers. It is famously reliable for large-scale plantings.

Very popular and reliable, multi award-winning Narcissus 'Hawera' is a dwarf daffodil boasting 6-8 gracefully nodding, pale canary yellow flowers per stem, each mildly fragrant bloom adorned with starry, slightly reflexed petals. This dwarf daffodil produces up to 9 stems, giving the aspect of a cheerful bouquet in mid to late spring. Long-lived, it forms large, vigorous clumps when grown in acid soil. A great pick for containers.

Sweetly fragrant, multiple award-winner Narcissus 'Ice Follies' produces large flowers, 4 in. across (9.5 cm), adorned with creamy-white petals and a flared, frilled, lemon-yellow cup that fades to pale cream over time. Blooming in early to mid-spring, this fast-growing and popular Large-Cupped Daffodil is a wonderful naturalizer as well as a good forcer. A heavy bloomer and vigorous grower, it makes excellent cut flowers too!

Long-lived, multiple award-winner Narcissus 'Jack Snipe' is a sturdy and reliable Miniature Daffodil with long-lasting, relatively large flowers, 3 in. wide (7 cm), adorned with creamy-white, reflexed petals and frilled, bright yellow trumpets. Blooming for a good 6 weeks in early to mid-spring, the brightly poised blooms of this very vigorous daffodil create a bold statement in the garden. A great choice for naturalizing in grass.

One of the longest blooming daffodils, award-winner Narcissus 'Pipit' is a sweetly fragrant Jonquil Daffodil bearing up to 2-3 flowers per stem and multiple stems per bulb. The flowers, 3 in. across (7 cm), open lemon-yellow with their cups gradually fading to ivory-white. Blooming in mid-spring for up to 5 weeks, this is a wonderful all-around daffodil. Perfect for borders and containers or to grow in the grass.

One of the most popular miniature daffodils worldwide, multiple award-winner Narcissus 'Tête à Tête' boasts perfectly formed, gently nodding, very fragrant flowers, 2.5 in. across (6.5 cm), adorned with pale yellow petals and brighter yellow trumpets. Blooming in early to mid-spring, with 1-3 flowers per stem, this dwarf daffodil is great for naturalizing and very popular for forcing. Highly versatile, it is a beautiful golden addition to the front of the border and a very popular pick for containers and window boxes.

One of the most popular species, Crocus vernus is an early spring blooming bulb that is widely grown in gardens or used for winter forcing. Its flowers are larger than any other of the crocuses, hence its common names of large flowering crocus or giant crocus. They range from yellow, white, and purple to striped or bronze and bloom for about three weeks.

Dwarf Iris (Iris reticulata) is a 4 in. tall beauty (10 cm) with grass-like leaves and a violet-blue or purple flower with yellow markings that bursts into bloom in early spring to create an effect reminiscent of butterflies hovering low to the ground. This sight brightens the aspect of late winter days in February and March. Perfect in pots and rock gardens, Iris reticulata will naturalize readily.

Most Muscari species are so extremely winter hardy and easy to grow that no garden should be without them. They naturalize extremely easily and will come back year after year and multiply. They come in different shades of blue, in white and even pink. An additional benefit is that all Muscari have a lovely fragrance. The more you plant, the more fragrance you get!

A sampling of top-performing bulbs that can be counted upon to perennialize -- and, if happy where you plant them, will most likely naturalize, too, to come back to bloom for years.

Rock gardens offer the perfect home for an extensive array of plants including evergreens, deciduous shrubs, perennials, annuals, and flowering bulbs. A surprisingly large number of perennial bulbs do well in rock gardens, such as snowdrops (Galanthus), crocuses (Crocus), wild tulips (Tulipa), miniature daffodils (Narcissus) and plenty others charming bulbs. The following list of perennial bulbs thrive in rock garden conditions and you will be delighted to see them every spring or fall.

Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and crocus: these are the spring bloomers everyone knows. But there are hundreds of other, lesser-known beauties to plant in fall. Some are small and delicate, others tall and ungainly. All are fabulous. Wait till you see them!

Flower bulbs look appealing when planted under garden trees. However, planting any bulbs beneath trees is not always successful because of the dense shade cast by the trees, the competition with their roots and the lack of moisture under these trees. If a tree competes with bulbs for light, water or nutrients, the tree always wins.

Narcissus (Daffodils) are among the easiest bulbs to grow and are regarded as some of the most valuable spring bulbs for the South. Long-lived, they naturalize and multiply year after year. Versatile, they offer a fascinating array of flower forms, sizes, and colors.

Naturalizing bulbs is a terrific way to brighten up lawns, prairies or meadows in spring. They also make gardening easy. Once planted, there is nothing left to do: these bulbs can stay right where they are and produce flowers year after year. What could be better?

If you look for more than a beautiful drift of creamy or golden flowers and wish to add another terrific dimension to your spring garden, plant fragrant Narcissus cultivars. While many daffodil bulbs are fragrant, most do not have a perfume powerful enough to enjoy unless you stick your nose directly into the bulb.

Naturalizing bulbs is a terrific way to brighten up lawns. A surprisingly large number of perennial bulbs do well in grass, such as snowdrops (Galanthus), crocuses (Crocus), squills (Scilla), checkered lilies (Fritillaria meleagris) and plenty others charming bulbs. Left undisturbed in the ground, they will emerge again every spring, but will also gently multiply as long as they receive the right light conditions and are planted in soil with the proper drainage.

Daffodils join tulips, hyacinths and crocuses to make up the most important of the spring-flowering plants. They are used in abundance in gardens for many reasons.

Consider this: spring is really three seasons - early, mid and late. You will want to think about this when choosing what to plant each fall. Why?

Easy to plant, Daffodils are extraordinarily rewarding every spring with their bright cheery blossoms warming our soul from the previous winter months. Long-lived, they naturalize and multiply year after year and offer a wide range of flower shapes and colors to pick from. Versatile, they are perfect for beds and borders, rock gardens, containers, or window boxes.

The easiest and most rewarding bulbs you can grow, Paperwhites are amazingly fragrant daffodils that are not winter-hardy but are perfect for producing flowers in a short period of time when grown indoors. In warm climates (zones 8-11) with hot, dry summers, Paperwhite bulbs can be planted outside where they will bloom annually for many years.