Trumpets, cups and the genus Narcissus
Every daffodil is a Narcissus, and the flower has a simple plan: six petal-like segments (the perianth) around a central corona. The corona's length sorts the main groups. In a trumpet daffodil it is as long as the petals or longer; in large-cupped and small-cupped types it is shorter. Double daffodils replace the corona with extra ruffled petals. Bulbs go in the ground in fall and bloom from late winter to mid-spring depending on climate, which is why daffodils are among the first garden flowers of the year. The daffodil is the national flower of Wales, worn on St David's Day (March 1), it is a traditional March birth flower, and several cancer charities use it as their symbol of hope.
Ten blooms, from pale yellow to white
This set leans toward the paler forms, with two soft yellow flowers among eight white and cream ones. The pale yellow blooms are a face-on flower with a ruffled golden cup on a curving stem (01) and one on a tall green stem in three-quarter view (02). For warm contrast, two cream flowers carry orange cups: one with a small bud on the stem (03) and one with a single long leaf (08). The rest are white with golden or yellow cups: a bloom with a closed bud beside it (04), one with a large ruffled trumpet and one leaf (05), a two-tone bloom with buds on side stems (06), a cream-white flower under two closed buds (07), a bloom nodding from an arched stem (09) and a face-on flower with a ruffled cup (10).
From St David's Day to Easter
Daffodils mark the turn from winter to spring, so their season on paper runs from late February through April. Use them on Easter cards and egg-hunt invitations, spring classroom bulletin boards, March birthday cards, Mother's Day notes and garden club flyers for bulb sales. Welsh schools and societies celebrating St David's Day on March 1 can pair a yellow trumpet with leeks or dragons. Charity fundraisers that sell daffodils in spring can build posters and thank-you cards around the face-on blooms (01 and 10), which read well at small sizes. The stems with closed buds (04 and 07) also suit get-well cards and new-beginning themes such as graduations and baby announcements. Garden centers advertising fall bulb sales in September and October can use the same art months before the real flowers open, since that is when daffodil bulbs are planted.
Yellow, cream and white together
The palette runs from golden yellow to cream to clean white, matched on this page to DMC floss such as 3078 Golden Yellow Very Light, 712 Cream and 746 Off White, with the two orange cups adding a warm accent. For a spring bouquet layout, add tulips for pink and red, cherry blossom for soft branches overhead, or a jar of wildflowers for a cottage feel. All of the daffodils appear in the spring hub, and the bright ones belong to the yellow hub as well.
Keeping white daffodils visible on white paper
Eight of the ten blooms have white or cream petals that fade into plain white card stock. Put them on a tinted background instead: pale sky blue, sage or kraft brown all give the petals an edge. The background toggle on this page lets you preview each image on white, black, kraft or a custom color before you download. Every file is a 2048 x 2048 px transparent PNG, about 6.8 inches at 300 DPI, so a single bloom can fill the front of a 5 x 7 inch card. For tags and stickers cut on a machine, the single-stem blooms (02 and 08) are the slimmest shapes and waste the least material.