'Mount Hood' Daffodil Bulbs

'Mount Hood' Daffodil Bulbs

Narcissus Mount Hood produces classically shaped flowers of perfect proportion and the purest white when fully open. Quite simply, Mount Hood is the most popular white daffodil in the world today.

The flowers, which appear in mid-late spring, from March into April are trumpet-shaped. Ivory on opening they quickly turn to a dazzling white over time and will take your breath away when planted in drifts - they practically glow in the spring evenings. This is a variety that is stunning in its simplicity and which provides a beautiful contrast to some of the more colourful daffodils and narcissi. It's also excellent in pots and as flowers for cutting.

Mount Hood holds a Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit. It's a hardy variety that is tolerant of most soils providing the ground has some drainage and is moist in the growing season. It'll thrive in part-shade as well as full sun.

The strap-shaped leaves are green in early spring, darkening to an attractive blue-green later. Stems can reach 45cm once the plant is fully mature, each supporting a single trumpet-shaped flower whose cup initially blooms creamy-yellow and turns pure white soon after opening. The elegantly frilled trumpet is set at right angles to a broad flat white perianth, giving the whole flower lovely proportions and shape.

The best time to plant daffodils and narcissi is in Autumn

• Group 1: Trumpet Daffodil
• Mount Hood daffodils should be planted about twice as deep as the bulb is tall and about as far apart in well-drained soil to which you have ideally added some well rotted organic matter
• If planting bulbs in containers, use plenty of drainage material in the bottom (e.g. broken crockery or gravel) and a free-draining compost
• You can deadhead daffodils once the flowers have faded, but don't cut the foliage off until the plant has died down naturally
• The bulbs will multiply in the ground to form a clump. When this becomes over crowded, mark it with a cane in spring and then lift, divide and replant the bulbs in Autumn to re-plant elsewhere.

History & Trivia

Mount Hood was bred in Holland in 1937 and is still the most popular white daffodil around. In the United States, it's marketed as a 'Second Snow' variety, along with appropriately named varieties like ‘Oregon Snow’ and ‘Frosty Snow’. It holds the American Daffodil Society's Wister Award.

Despite the introduction of hundreds of hybrids since Mount Hood first appeared, the variety held a place in the International Flower Bulb Centre's top ten list right up until the Bulb Centre shut its doors in 2011.