Narcissus

The mainstay bulb of the spring garden — a hardy, fall-planted perennial from Europe and North Africa whose flowers rise on leafless stems above strap-shaped foliage. Each bloom shows six petals (the perianth) ringing a central trumpet or cup (the corona) in white, yellow, orange, pink, or bicolor. Almost pest-free and reliably deer- and rabbit-resistant thanks to toxic alkaloids in every part of the plant.

The wild Lent lily of Western European woods and meadows and the ancestor of the garden daffodil — a hardy, fall-planted spring bulb whose nodding flowers carry a deep golden trumpet (corona) ringed by paler primrose-yellow petals on leafless stems above strap-shaped foliage. It naturalizes into spreading drifts in grass and under deciduous trees, and like all daffodils it is reliably deer- and rabbit-resistant because every part is toxic. All parts, especially the bulb, are poisonous to people and pets.