In fact, the word 'daffodil' is synonymous with spring and is thought to have come from an old English word meaning 'early', referring to the flower's habit of blooming as soon as the soil begins to warm up in early spring.

Introduced into gardens about 300BC daffodils were brought to Britain by the Romans. They belong to the genus Narcissus from the Amaryllidaceae family and include the typical trumpet flowered yellow daffodils and the multi-headed very fragrant jonquils.

In the landscape they provide lovely displays whether in pots, rockeries, borders, long drifts, mass plantings or left to naturalise under deciduous trees or meadow gardens.

Due to the immense popularity of daffodils, the range has expanded far beyond the traditional yellow with a stiff trumpet for they now come in many different sizes, shapes and colours in single and double forms.

The feature of trumpet daffodils is that the trumpet is equal to or greater than the length of the petals with the most famous being N. 'King Alfred'.

Other special trumpet types include N. 'Golden Lion'; N. 'Accent'; N. 'Rosslare' and the delightful N. 'Ice Follies' with large, creamy/white petals and a frilled lemon/yellow cup.

The double daffodils have layers of petals, sometimes in contrasting colours as seen in N. 'Flower Parade' a stunner with pure white double blooms with ruffled bright orange petals in the centre. N. 'Ice King'; N 'Queen's Day'; N. 'Repete'; N. 'Safina'; and N. 'Tahiti' are just some of the many others in this gorgeous group.

The butterfly daffodils, also known as split corona daffodils, have split trumpets that fold back to form a ruffle. N. 'Love Call' with white petals overlaid with a buttercup yellow to orange ruffled corona is outstanding in beauty. Other great performers include N. 'Congress'; N. 'Chanterelle'; N.' Gabrielle Kleigerg' and N. 'Parisienne'

The jonquils have clusters of fragrant small flowers with N. 'Erlicheer'; N. 'Yellow Erlicheer'; N. 'Soleil d'Or' ; N. 'Paper White' and N. 'Grand Monach' among popular choices.

I love the little miniature daffodils that generally produce a number of flowers per stem with a number of stems per bulb.

N. 'Tete a Tete' is a prime example with pale yellow petals and a darker yellow trumpet . N. 'Hoop Petticoat'; N. 'Spring Sunshine'; N. 'Jetfire' and N. 'Bittern' are more firm favourites.

Ideal subjects for pots, mass planting, rock gardens or providing small pockets of colour around the garden.

Plant bulbs in autumn, three times as deep as their height, with the point facing upwards in a sunny, well drained position that has ideally had plenty of aged compost dug into it a few weeks earlier.

Make sure the base of each bulb is in close contact with the soil in the bottom of the hole because if there is an air space below the bulb it may not form roots.

Potted daffodils benefit from being kept somewhere cool and dark until the shoots emerge from the soil.

After flowering clumps can look untidy but don't remove the leaves until they have died down completely otherwise the bulbs will be weakened and next year's flowers impaired.

Failure to flower is usually due to overcrowding, the position is either too dry or too wet, growing in heavy shade, starvation or premature removal of foliage after flowering.

Daily: Emu Valley Rhododendron Garden, Burnie from 9am to 4pm. Closed Christmas Day and Good Friday. World acclaimed 11ha woodland garden features 24,000 rhododendrons and companion plants in a magnificent setting. Tea room 9.30am to 4pm.