I haven’t grown any daffodils for a long time. At some point I became smitten by tulips and never looked back. But since rodents don’t eat daffodils, and I’m up to my eyeballs in squirrels and chipmunks with a tulip vendetta, I decided it was time to fall in love with daffodils again. I planted various daffodil bulbs throughout my flowerbeds last fall.
One of the first cultivars to pop out of the ground this spring was ‘Hillstar’. When the flowers emerged I went into a bit of a panic. They were down-facing! I despise down-facing plants. Why didn’t someone warn me?!
The weather was less-than-pleasant for the next few days, so I didn’t spend any time outside, and I forgot all about ‘Hillstar’. When the sun finally reappeared, ‘Hillstar’ greeted me with a nice surprise. The flowers were no longer down-facing. I’m too impatient for my own good. They just needed time to grow and straighten.
The cheery, 3-inch flowers are adorable. They start out bright yellow and then develop a white halo. The cups also take on an ivory tinge as they mature:
‘Hillstar’ grows 14 to 16 inches tall and blooms mid-spring. Each stem produces several flowers, so you get a lot of blooms for your buck. ‘Hillstar’ is hardy in Zones 5-9.