Daffodils Are Delightful, But Tulips Are Better
Let me stipulate that everything is beautiful in its own way, you can’t say one flower is better than another, and so on.
However. Really you can say that some flowers are better than others, and when it comes to spring bulbs, Tulips are better than Daffodils.
This isn’t just an opinion, it is backed up by research done at Princeton University’s Center for Horticulture and Advanced Thought (CHAT).
Right now the Daffodils are at their peak in my garden, and I do appreciate them, especially the way they glow in the spring sunshine.
Even so, the superiority of Tulips over Daffodils can be summarized in one word: color.
Tulips have a wider range of colors, and much stronger colors.
There are no daffodils of brilliant red or dark purple or vibrant orange. OK, there are daffodils that have cups of a sort of apricot or orangey pink, but that is hardly the same.
Also, colors mix in Tulips much more dramatically than they do with Daffodils. With Daffodils, you may get a perianth (petals) of one color and a cup of another. Sometimes the cup fades from a lighter to a deeper shade. Very nice.
But with Tulips, you can get stripes and swirls and one dazzling color flushed with another.
Right now my ‘Early Harvest’ Tulips are done except for the ones in a single pot. But as ‘Early Harvest’ exits, T. praestans ‘Fusilier’ and ‘Unicum’ (with variegated leaves) keep my need for brilliant color satisfied.
There’s also a few white and yellow Tulip species in my garden: lots of T. turkestanica, a few T. biflora, and the T. dasystemon are just starting to bloom. Many more will make their appearance in the next few weeks.
It must be admitted that Daffodils do have one huge advantage over tulips: critters don’t eat daffodils – all parts of the plant are toxic.
Also, as far as I can tell the poets have been more effusive about Daffodils than about Tulips. Tulips don’t have anything to match Wordsworth’s “host of golden daffodils, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.” There is a poem by Sylvia Plath which gives you the feeling she actually hates tulips. If someone knows of a poem which corrects this imbalance, please let me know.
Do you agree with me that Narcissi have their charms, but they are no match for Tulips?
gardeninacity 
I, of course, would have to agree with you. Not only are the colours more intense and varied; tulips are available in so many different forms, just the type names give you an idea – parrot, lily flowered, water lily or peony flowered. I love them all!
Yes, tulips do come in many forms, especially if you include the species tulips with multiple small flowers.
Like many beautiful things, tulips are heart breakers, for the very reason you mention: critters love them. Daffs, on the other hand, are like good friends: reliable, steady, (almost) always there when you can’t stand another minute of gray and brown in early spring.
Though I have lots of rabbits and squirrels, they have done minimal damage to my tulips. No deer to contend with, though, for which I am grateful.
Haha, I don’t agree and your own pics prove you wrong, dear Jason! The daffs are stunning and yes, tulips may be a little more flamboyant but I love them both the same. The daffs do tend to be more faithful, in my garden anyway.
The species tulips are very faithful, I have found, the luxurious hybrids less so. But I grow the hybrids as annuals for the most part, and am happy to do so!
I can’t agree with you about tulips being better… They can be more colorful what with a wider range of color but not better.
So you would contradict the experts at the Center for Horticulture and Advanced Thought?
I agree! But the squirrels eat all my tulips and it seems I have to replant them every fall in certain beds. The front yard is a loss since they are eaten all the time. My dog makes it a bit more difficult in my backyard garden( long sigh), but I do have to admit that pop of color just lifts ones spirits!
For me the species tulips are reliably perennial, and I treat the hybrids like annuals.
Well…I love them all, and I can’t grow tulips because the squirrels won’t let me. 🙂
Damn squirrels!
I admit to liking them all. I adore jonquils and the smaller narcissi, but I’m also a supreme tulip whore. I can’t get enough of them, but same thing there – I far prefer the species tulips. The die back more gracefully for one thing – without all that floppy foliage. But hey – I welcome them all!
I used to have a preference for the species tulips also – but then Judy converted me to the luscious hybrids as well. The species tulips are certainly easier to work with, and I grow the hybrids mainly as annuals in pots.
This weekend at Hortlandia, I found the tiniest narcissus I have ever seen. The grower had collected the bulbs from the mountains of Spain and propagated it. The flower was about 1/2″ in diameter, and the stalk about 5″ – 6″ tall. Absolutely precious! I fell for it like a ton of rocks!
I’m a bit of a bulb slut myself, loving them all. Both Tulips and Daffodils have their charms but as you mentioned, daffodils aren’t attractive to the squirrel gardeners or other critters like the slugs that made Swiss cheese of some of my tulip foliage this year. Daffodils also increase and come back reliably year after year whereas tulips, except the Darwins and especially the species, tend to make a splash for a few years and then go gently into that dark soil. Daffodils do have that lovely spring scent, especially when brought indoors. I’m surprised that P.U. CHAT didn’t include fragrance in their otherwise flawless research.
Oh, do not underestimate the sages of CHAT! They did take fragrance into account, because there are many fragrant tulips – I planted quite a few last fall.
You’re right, I can’t think of a single tulip poem that is cheerful. I wonder if you like the frilly parrot tulips too? I do love seeing crowds of daffodils in a woodland setting, but tulips do seem to offer more choice when it comes to a garden setting so I have to agree!
Actually the parrot tulips are not my favorite. Among the hybrids, I like the singles and lily-flowered best.
I would date a tulip but marry a daffodil.
Yes, but what if you were then drawn into a torrid affair with a tulip, ending with a horrific crime of passion? When you consider everything, it is best to follow your heart.
Love and agree with bittster’s comment. 😉 And my comment on Facebook rougly correlates with your points at the end of this post. I don’t hate Tulips. They’re gorgeous. But Daffodils are easier and more sustainable. Cute post.
Species tulips are as easy as the Daffodils, I think.
I love tulips but voles and deer love them even more. And if they are not species tulips they generally have to be replanted every year.
That said, I recently went to the twin sisters’ garden in Chapel Hill and their tulips were in full bloom. It was necessary to take at least 100 pictures.
We don’t have deer and there are few voles, though the rabbits and squirrels we do have haven’t been that big a problem for our tulips.
I completely agree on the tulips vs daffodils, especially since I have an inordinate fondness for flowers that are patterned in any way: stripes, splashes, etc., and thus, two words: Rembrandt tulips! 🙂
Yes! I love Rembrandt-style tulips. My understanding is that the real Rembrandt tulips are no longer sold because they contain a virus. However, there are varieties that are very similar. I planted one last fall called ‘Princess Irene’.
Yes, that’s true about the virus. When I first discovered broken-color iris I thought it might be the same as the ‘old’ tulips but it’s not: no “iris virus”, just creative hybridizing. 🙂
I think it’s true that if you want the hotter colors in a cool spring garden then you really have to go with tulips. I like blue and yellow combinations too though, so there have to be some scilla / grape hyacinths thrown in there somewhere. I also like the “poets daffodil” (Narcissus poeticus) for the historical baggage it carries.
I love blue and yellow also so I have lots of Scilla and Muscari – also Virginia and Spanish Bluebells.
I agree. Daffodils are lovely , but tulips are the glamour girls. Tulips tempt you to bankrupt yourself, because you never, never can get enough of them. However many you have, it’ s just not enough.
Absolutely true that you can never have enough tulips.
It’s hard to speculate on this tulipomania. If the deer would leave tulips alone I would definitely plant them occasionally, but I love seeing the daffodils return each year with no further effort on my part. Your daffodils and tulips look wonderful Jason.
Thank you!
I don’t think I could ever choose between the bulbs – any of them for that matter – they are all so wonderful!
Although, when I did live in Sydney (which is a warm climate) I did force tulips in the fridge for a garden display….I never did this with daffodils, so maybe that’s telling…..!
And I have forced Paperwhite Narcissus but not tulips, so maybe my feelings are ambivalent.
I agree tulips have the variety of colour but they fail to come back year after year in the way daffs do. Daffs have a natural girl-next-door beauty whereas tulips are brighter, brash even? as if in full makeup!
Daffodils are like Goldfinches while Tulips are Birds of Paradise.
Obviously I just wrote a comment that got lost when the internet connection failed me and the page reloaded… Anyway you made your good point with tulips but since they don’t survive for more than two seasons in my garden I’ll stick to daffodils. Much more reliable they increase year by year and are just carefree. I really like those t. turkesanika underplanted to the red ones, very good (and brave) match!
I’m surprised that tulips won’t grow for you, since they are native to a swath from Central Asia to the Eastern Mediterranean. The bravery is attributed to the T. turkestanica who planted themselves among the T. praestans.
I know they can self seed! Actually I have very heavy clay in my garden and tulips rot very quickly
OK, that makes sense. Have you thought of planting tulips in raised beds or containers?
Yes of course but then you need to plant them every year and it’s not really something I’d like to do…
Not if you plant species tulips, they are reliably perennial.
I do agree and wish I could grow more tulips….the colors, size and shapes of the flowers just make me happy.
That sums it up for me very nicely!
I like any bulb that grows but tulips are quite spectacular. I love all the different colors and the ones with fluted edges.
Tulips are spectacular – exactly!
I love tulips, but having lived in the “Daffodil Capital of America,” Gloucester VA, I’m siding with the daffodils. They are true perennials that grow there in masses over fields, roadsides, ditches and yards in a riot of colors… yellow, white, pink, red, orange.
I don’t know if I’ve seen daffs in a riot of color – a gathering or orderly demonstration of color, maybe.
They are the same to me, both shout out spring and are a delight to see, especially en mass. Daffs at least keep squirrels at bay. Tulips just too tasty.
Both are a delight, I just think tulips provide delight with a dash of ecstasy.
I think I prefer daffodils, but like tulips too – especially the species ones. I recently saw behind-the-scenes at a bulb nursery when the daffodil fields were in full bloom – their fragrance was glorious.
There are also fragrant tulips.
I’ll have to test them out next time I see some!
http://www.johnscheepers.com/tips_e.html
I love both, and wouldn´t want to choose between them. I love daffodils, especially the white ones. I have some with a wonderful fragrance, like Thalia. They come back every year, unlike the tulips. But tulips do come in all kinds of great colours, and patterns, and of course they belong in every garden.
Here is a poem for you.
Tulips shyly smiling, greet the spring
Tightly closed when at
First we meet
Tulips slowly opening, begin to sing
Gaining volume
Ever sweet
No longer shy, as days grow longer,
Raising their heads
They begin to flirt
Tulips dressed in many a color
Breezes swirling
Each floral skirt
Tulips, brazen painted hussies,
Part their bright lips trying to seduce
The busy buzzing bees
Far too bold for dainty tussies
Vibrant Tulip flowers produce
Visions certain to please
Mary Havran
Thank you! I had never heard of Mary Havran, but I really enjoyed this poem.
TULIPS!!!!…..Daffodils make me smile but tulips make my heart skip a beat every I see them!
I know how you feel!
I need more tulips in my life! Yours are stunning Jason….Mine are waiting to open with this crazy weather we have been having the last several days. But tulips all the way!!! Nicole
Right on, Nicole! Tulips forever!
I’m all about the daffs…tulips are beautiful yes, but narcissus have a subtle grace that gets me every time
For myself, I never put too much emphasis on subtlety.
I love the range of colours tulips come in too, yours are gorgeous, I do love the pink charm daffodil though!xxx
‘Pink Charm’ is a nice one.
What a person NEEDS after a long wnter is colour. I like both but when I had a northern garden tulips were a must have.
Exactly how I feel.