Daffodils are perennials. You don't need to dig them up. They do want full sun or almost full sun. Not full shade.

Old House Gardens is a reputable site and so is Brent and Becky's Bulbs.

Your site by the retaining wall and among the groundcover sounds pretty ideal for daffodils and arum. Daffodils like full sun while they are above ground (your tree will be bare of leaves then). They don't mind the shade during the summer, because they are dormant under the ground.

You need to know that Arum Italicum Pictum is grown primarily for its beautiful, white veined foliage in the winter. The flowers are brief and not especially showy. It goes dormant, completely disappearing, shortly after blooming in the spring. A seed stalk appears in late summer to early fall that has bright red berries, followed by the big leaves that last all winter. I love it. I am NOT certain it would be winter hardy for you. I'm also not certain the leaves would be tall enough to show through your ground cover. The bulbs are not cheap, so be sure you know before you order them.

You will have no problem finding white and orange daffodils. I cannot recommend varieties for you since you are so much farther north than I am, but this information shouldn't be hard to find. A free source would be your local Cooperative Extension Agent, or the website of an agriculture university in your state.

When you choose the right kinds of daffodils, they will "naturalize", which means not only do they return faithfully year after year, but they multiply, so you have more and more of them with each passing year. You can let them clump up, or, you can dig them up every so often, break the bulbs apart and replant them. When you are just starting out, try to plant at least fifty. More is better. Don't plant them in straight rows, and don't spread them out too far. Plant them in groups of at least 5 to 7 bulbs, about six inches apart. After they bloom, LEAVE THE FOLIAGE ALONE. It needs to grow for a couple more months or three, so that the leaves can feed the bulbs underground and form the baby blooms for the next year. This is why the groundcover idea is so good. The dying foliage will be much less noticeable.

There are many reputable bulb dealers. I use Brent and Beckys alot, plus McClure and Zimmerman. Old House Gardens has varieties that can be extremely difficult to find. They are also extremely expensive. Always see if you can find what they have somewhere else before you ante up. (You can find at least some of what they carry other places. And for MUCH less $.)

You can also buy bulbs very inexpensively at Wal-Mart and their kin in the fall. As long as you know what varieties are good in your area, there's no reason not to. You will save a good bit of money, although mail order bulbs are usually larger. REad up on when your best planting time is, and buy your bulbs as close to that time as possible. Early is always better than late. Your bulbs will be fresher.

Watch this forum come fall. There is always alot of activity as people swap information and advice on good varieties and good companies. I expect that people in your zone start planting bulbs in September or October.

Donna, thank you for the wealth of information - very helpful.

I did order my bulbs already - being the impatient person that I am - from Old House Gardens. The problem I had with other sites was either no pictures (I don't know what I'm getting), or not easy to navigate. Most of all, I'm guilty of being impatient. But I didn't order the Arum, much to my pleasure.

Unfortunately, I read somewhere that bulbs won't last for long in my pachysandra (japanese spurge) since they will eventually be choked out by the roots. The roots of the pachysandra are very extensive (I made the "duh" mistake of trying to transplant them from my neighbors yard to my own, and it's not practical). At present, the pachy aren't filled in yet, so at this point the daffs WOULD probably last a few years, and they WOULD look stunning there - but now I'm hesitant since I know it's only short term. I'm disappointed, but I think in the long run I'll be thankful that I made the right choice. And those bulbs aren't cheap!

Nonetheless, I may just plant the bulbs by my clematis along my fenceline. I have a small strip of grass between my fenceline and my driveway where I just planted my clems this year, and at the base of my clems so far I have daylilies and (I believe "bearded") Iris - something to keep the roots of the clems cool. Thankfully, what I DID do right was to clump the iris and daylilies instead of planting them in a row. Oh, how it pays to research before "doing", and the advice on this forum has saved me many headaches.

So, at this point I'm thinking of planting a mixture of daffs and tulips by my clems since there's much to fill in yet. I also knew to leave the daff' sfoliage alone after the bloom, but thank you for reminding me of this.

As far as the Arum, I've thought it through and decided against it. I'm unsure whether it's hardy in my area anyway, and at the price I'd rather not test the waters.

Thanks again

I have not grown pachysandra. I have only seen pictures of it and, of course, the pictures are always gorgeous. The one question I have about it is if it is the perfect height to attract snakes. You might want to question your neighbor about its pros and cons. Since it hasn't filled in yet, it would probably be fairly easy to dig it up and dispose of it, and then choose a different ground cover. I'm not saying this is what you should do, mind you. But early is always better than later on these kinds of decisions. :)

Hi Donna, I had to laugh out loud at your post. Unfortunately, I'm not in a climate where snakes are prevalent (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)! I think the only thing we have here are grass snakes, but since I'm in the inner city it's never been an issue. I remember them when I would visit my Grandma up north in my younger days, but at best we'd run across a grass snake on a golf course here in Milwaukee - and even that's a rare occurence.

The only thing I've come across in my pachy have been centipedes - and I'd prefer a snake over a centipede any day! (non-poisonous, of course). LOL

p.s. grass snakes are harmless - when we would visit grandma up north (farmland), my brother would catch them and put them around my neck to taunt me, but I wasn't afraid so it was no big deal. :P

lol lucky you, i seen my first copperhead this past weekend, some one ran him over on the road by my drive way, im hopin he dont have family close by!!

you could also get daffs by trading,:) there are some trading daffs already n should be more this month, just thought id toss that in cause i just did a 100 bulb for bulb trade, my daffs,most named, if she would of orderd them it would of costed her 75-100bucks pluse shipping, with trading it only costed her 9.somthing for her flatrate box of bulbs she sent me :)
as for heirloom varieties i have the van sion heirlooms n i dont see any diffrence to my others :)

I like buggycrazy.com as well.

Lucky Lucky You! I have killed three snakes in the last three weeks, two of which I am quite certain were rattlers. This, of course, is why I am very leery of creating habitat for them. Enjoy your pachysandra! :)

I would encourage you not to kill non-poisonous snakes as they do a lot to keep down rodent populations, Donna. If they were rattlesnakes they should have had rattles. Some snakes resemble them some, even having the rough keeled scales, one kind will shake it's tail a little to make a noise hoping to sound like a rattler. You could probably find photos of different snakes in you area somewhere online.

The smaller daffodils seem to naturalize better for me. John Scheepers sells collections of various daffodils for very reasonable prices, and I also found some rare species Tulips at Bulbmeister. I like B&B and M&Z too, mentioned above.