Narcissus

The mainstay bulb of the spring garden — a hardy, fall-planted perennial from Europe and North Africa whose flowers rise on leafless stems above strap-shaped foliage. Each bloom shows six petals (the perianth) ringing a central trumpet or cup (the corona) in white, yellow, orange, pink, or bicolor. Almost pest-free and reliably deer- and rabbit-resistant thanks to toxic alkaloids in every part of the plant.

One of the latest and most elegant narcissi, the poet's daffodil opens in late spring with pure white, gently reflexed petals around a small, flat, yellow cup edged in crimson, carrying a strong sweet fragrance that gives it its other name, pheasant's eye. A hardy, fall-planted spring bulb from the mountain meadows of southern and central Europe, it naturalises beautifully in grass for meadow plantings and, like all daffodils, is reliably deer- and rodent-resistant because every part is toxic.

The wild Lent lily of Western European woods and meadows and the ancestor of the garden daffodil — a hardy, fall-planted spring bulb whose nodding flowers carry a deep golden trumpet (corona) ringed by paler primrose-yellow petals on leafless stems above strap-shaped foliage. It naturalizes into spreading drifts in grass and under deciduous trees, and like all daffodils it is reliably deer- and rabbit-resistant because every part is toxic. All parts, especially the bulb, are poisonous to people and pets.