by Gail Seymour

Created on: July 07, 2010

The White Lion is named for the strong yellow ruffled double cup at its center, that is reminiscent of a fluffy lion’s mane. Where the petals are also double, the second row of petals intertwine with the cup to create a more lotus like flower, a cloud of white petals with a fluffy yellow heart.

The White Lion is strongly scented, and blooms in late spring, with impressive four to five inch flowers and medium to tall stems of 18 to 20 inches. It is happy down to zone 3 to be naturalized outdoors, where it will need a sunny spot sheltered from the worst of the winds, and equally at home up to zone 8 where it will prefer a more shady spot and protection from the midday sun.

Planting

Like most other daffodils, White Lion is best planted in the fall, from August through to November. The earlier you can get them in the ground, the more chance there is they will give you a good show in their first year. Bulbs planted later may fail to flower the first year, or produce small flowers with weak coloring. They may also flower later than normal in the first year, and revert to form the following year, when they have had chance to acclimatize.

Although they like a sandy, chalky or loamy moist but well-drained soil, like most daffodils, they will cope with most soils provided it is not boggy or waterlogged.

Make sure the bulbs are firm and fleshy. If they are dry and peeling like onions, or have air pockets and feel squashy between your fingers, discard them. Also reject any with signs of rot, mold or mildew, or with white spots.

The bulbs should be planted at three times their depth, so for White Lion that should be around six inches, and they will need a similar amount of space between them, as they are naturally clump forming. If you plant the bulbs in a heavy or clay soil, dig in a little organic matter and surround each bulb with a layer of compost. You may also want to plant them at around four inches and make up the difference with mulch to give them more ideal growing conditions.

During Flowering

Like most other daffodils, White Lion will flower happily for you with little more than an occasional watering during a dry spring. If you cut them for the vase, remember they will produce a milky white sap that is poisonous to most other spring flowers, so either display them on their own or use a daffodil neutralizing feed in the water. The sap, and indeed all parts of the daffodil are mildly toxic, so always wash your hands after handling them.

After flowering

Don’t cut or tie the leaves after flowering. Instead, deadhead the flowers, as they are either sterile or produce seeds that don’t grow true to form, and will only continue to draw energy from the bulb unnecessarily. Allow the leaves to die back naturally, and apply a liquid or granular fertilizer formulated for bulbs during the six weeks or so after flowering, as this is when the bulb is actively storing energy for the following year. They will also need watering if the weather is dry.

Throughout the hotter summer months the bulbs are dormant and need less water, but their root system becomes active again in the fall, when you should ensure the ground doesn’t dry out around them, even through winter.

Daffodils don’t like to be continually dug up and are happier if left in one spot to mature, but they will need lifting and dividing as the clumps they form get too big and they begin to compete for food, generally every three years or so.

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