It's a common practice to plant perennials over the daffies. Around here, daylilies are often used because they come up just as the last of the daffies finish blooming so that the new daylily leaves help conceal the dying daffy leaves. That's the sort of timing you want. My perennial beds have columbine, nepeta, verbena, and phlox which all come up early and do well at concealing the dying daffy leaves.

Keep in mind that happy daffies will multiply and will need to be dug up every three or four years so that you can lift out the new bulblets and increase the blooming of the older bulbs. (Crowded daffies will make leaves but do not bloom well.) Many "soft" perennials will have the same or a similar schedule to be lifted and divided. Don't plant shrubs over or too near the bulbs because most woody shrubs don't require the same dividing techniques. Planting daffies under trees is gorgeous in the spring and will give you a new vocabulary when it comes time to divide the plants. My advice is don't do it --- tree roots grow faster and bigger than anything you really want to play with.

You can also simply plant annuals around and over the bulbs. Daffies bulbs do best when planted about 6" deep in well drained, rich soil. Many annuals like the same type of soil, but their roots only go to about 4 to 5" so there is no space competition. It means re-planting every spring, but that can be fun as you try out different combinations. I often plant marigolds, callibrochia, or geraniums in sunny beds, and impatients or torenia in the partial-sun beds.

I don't believe daffys will return in southern California. You don't have a long enough time with temperatures below 40 degrees. Do you see others having them return in your area?
Linda C

lindac ~ I was determining viability by fact of the various daffodil associations in California. But, you are right in that most of the associations are in northern Cal, and as one goes farther south, it becomes more iffy as to whether there will be sufficient chill days. I should have mentioned that refrigeration might be a necessity for successful re-bloom dependent on the exact locale.

i agree, i think they need cold winter. you need to find out if where you live is cold enough for them to rebloom. why daffodils? if you live in southern ca. you can have most plants a year long, i thought.
if you really wants daffodils and turns out it's too warm, you have to dig up every year and chill in the refrigerator and plant them again or buy the prechilled bulbs every year. sounds like too much hassel but it can be done if you really want them. we all make sacrifice for things that we love.