'Cheerfulness'
Double Daffodil
"All the meadowland daffodils
seem running in golden tides."
-The Dream
by Lascelles Abercrombie
1881-1938
by Lascelles Abercrombie
1881-1938
Spice-sented Narcissus 'Cheerfulness' is medium-sized in the fourteen to eighteen inches range of height, with its flowers occurring one to three per stem.
It has a creamy perianth with white & palest yellow double corona. The flowers appear as early as the last week in March, & through the majority of April.In autumn 2003 we planted eight bulbs in a streetside full morning sun location, mixed in with eight 'Pipit' jonquils, near the foot of a Royal Star Magnolia.
In autumn 2004 we added five additional bulbs to this location. The bulbs are quite large, in contrast to the small stature of the flowers.
'Pipit' & 'Cheerfulness' bloom about the same time in the spring. They make for a striking contrast together, 'Pipit' Jonquils being yellow with white streaks & having a sharp petal & distinctly ruffled trumpet, while creamy 'Cheerfulness' is nearly white having soft-edged petals & its trumpet with so many extra petals that it almost looks like a gardenia or a carnation rather than a daffodil.
'Cheerfulness' is an heirloom variety that has been gardened since 1923, developed by the Dutch bulb dynasty of R. A. Van der schoot & Sons, a company founded by J. B. van der shoot in 1849. It is categorized as a Division 4 daffodil, of mixed species heritage. In 1995 it received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit as a long-proven easily grown top-performing favorite.
From 'Cheerfulness' the Eggink Brothers of Holland further developed 'Yellow Cheerfulness' which blooms two or three weeks later.