In case you haven’t noticed, daffodils have moved way beyond basic yellow and white. Now home gardeners can choose from a palette that includes salmon, soft peach, fiery orange, mustard, apricot, even mauve and rose.

This year, a daffodil called ‘Tickled Pink’ comes to the table. It’s so new that “it was still in the process of being registered as our 2009 catalogue went to press!” reads a description on Whiteflowerfarm.com.

This handsome new large-cupped daffodil — officially, Narcissus ‘Tickled Pink’ — features lemon-yellow petals that age to white, forming a soft ring around the coral-colored cups.

(photo from Bluestone Perennials)

Whatever color you choose, daffodils are a great plant for the Hudson Valley — they’re deer resistant and a reliable return bloomer, unlike finicky tulips. The bulbs will also naturalize and spread over time. Sentinel flowers, daffodils announce to the world that spring has finally arrived.

Like other spring-blooming bulbs that require several months of cold weather to set their blooms, daffodils need to be planted in the fall. You can still plant bulbs through the month of November.

Yes, they want full sun, but they bloom before the deciduous trees begin to leaf out, so you probably have more sunny sites for these bulbs than you realize. Daffodils are not fussy about soil as long as it’s well drained.

Bouquets of daffodils look particularly good under spring-blooming trees and shrubs, such as cherries, crabapples and viburnums.

Don’t be shy when ordering them. Order 25 — or even 50 — and plant them all together in a big hole. You’ll love the effect next April.