Daffodils at the Shakespeare Garden

The botanical name for daffodil comes from Greek mythology and the young man who was tricked into falling in love with his reflection, Narcissus. Thus the flower sometimes represents selfishness and unrequited love. Other times it symbolizes new beginnings, hope, and joy.

Brought to England by the Romans, the daffodils were planted by the soldiers to honor others killed in battle. Because the bulbs are poisonous, it is thought that some soldiers would eat the bulbs rather than be captured.

Daffodils are perennial flowers that grow from bulbs in the earliest months of spring. The plant is winter hardy in zones 3-8 and requires full sun. It’s a favorite of many pollinators, and some have been known to continuously flower for decades. There are some 24 species as identified by John Gerard, and all of these would have been abundant in Shakespeare’s London.

Shakespeare references to daffodils:

  • Autolycus:

     “When daffodils begin to peer,-

    With heigh! The doxy over the dale,-

    Why, then comes the sweet o’ the year”

  • Perdita:

    “O Proserpina,

    For the flowers now that, frighted, thou let’st fall

    From Dis’s wagon: Daffodils

    That come before the swallow dares, and take

    The winds of March with beauty.”