'Sempre Avanti' Daffodil Bulbs

Narcissus 'Sempre Avanti'

Sempre Avanti (Narcissus 'Sempre Avanti') is an early flowering white daffodil with flared orange cups.

Well suited to container growing, it is very happy in a wide range of soils and settings: so long as there is some sun and the soil is well drained, it will be very easy to care for. Browse our other daffodil bulbs here.

As with all the other Narcissi in our Naturalising Mix, it will form beautiful drifts in lawns and borders.

• Group 2: Large-cupped Daffodil
• Height 30-40cm
• Spread 15cm
• Single heads
• Mid-green foliage
• Light Fragrance
• 2-5 years to mature

Plant Care

Plant bulbs in autumn (August-November) at one-and-a-half times their own depth, in sunny or partial shaded areas. They can be planted in clumps, but avoid planting too tightly to avoid inhibiting flowering. Spacing of around 8-12cm is ideal.

They prefer well-drained, moderately fertile soils but will tolerate a wide range of soils and pH including clay, chalk, loam, and sand. Just avoid over-watering and waterlogged soils for best results.

The strong yellow and orange flowers give bright colour in mid spring. They can be deadheaded when the flowers are finished. They will grow better in subsequent years if the leaves are left to die back naturally, allowing nutrients to be stored up in the bulbs.

To plant in containers or for indoors, put the bulbs in pots at a depth or around 5cm in a loam-based compost in early autumn. Keep them outdoors in a cold frame until shoots appear, then grow them on in a greenhouse. Once the buds are opening you can bring them indoors for a lovely spring display.

Look out for...

Daffodils are susceptible to slugs as well as Narcissus yellow stripe virus, basal rot, large narcissus fly and bulb and stem eelworm. Daffodil sap can be a skin irritant so handle all Narcissus with care.

Did you know...

Narcissus 'Sempre Avanti' is named in Italian and it means 'always forward'. It was registered by the de Graaf Brothers in 1938.

All new daffodils are registered with the Royal Horticultural Society and there are currently over 27,000 cultivars recorded on the register, last fully updated in 2008. Each one is given a Divison number and a colour code. 

'Sempre Avanti' (sometimes called 'Semper Avanti') is an RHS Division 2 daffodil, which is defined as having large cups but with a corona no longer than the perianth. Being white with an orange cup, its code is therefore 2 W-O.

Division 2 daffodils are also known as the most robust of daffodils and are often used on roadsides and in woodlands, parks and lawns to create the drifts that tell us spring has arrived.