Daffodils

Here are some daffodils. These are among the earliest flowers to bloom out in the wild around me, giving those Lesser Celandine a run for their money. And like Lesser Celandine, daffodils are invasive wildflowers; nothing in their family is native to North America.

They're considered poisonous to us and probably other mammals. I've read that deer won't eat them, and they usually seem pretty intact when I see them so I'm pretty confident rabbits, woodchucks, and other mammals won't touch them. It does sound like at least some slugs, snails, and insects could eat them, though I'm not sure if that was referring to invertebrates in North America or back in their native land.

But one thing daffodils have over Lesser Celandine is that they do seem to be useful to pollinators. This may seem like a small thing, but if you're a bee, wasp, flower fly, moth, or butterfly looking for an early spring meal, daffodils may provide you with the sustenance to survive.

I was a little surprised that daffodils aren't really covered in my Newcomb's Wildflower Guide. It certainly covers many other invasive flowers. The copyright of the book is 1977; I wonder if daffodils have spread to the wild here more recently than that.

March 31, 2021 at Duke Farms