High Society and Accent are reliable for me, I love the color on accent. Tahiti is my favorite double and it holds up pretty well. Golden echo is very vigorous and a smaller bloom. Barret Browning is an older one that's really reliable for me.
I could go on and on :)
Daffodils that have been awarded a Wister award or Pannil award are usually good performers, if you go to the Brent and Becky website it will say if they've won, I think it's a safer bet to look at these awards rather than generic "award winner" statements that show up in many catalogs/ Have fun! I always have trouble not going overboard...

That is very helpful, kato, thanks! I've been looking on the Van Engelen website and I've noticed the Wister and Pannil awards and didn't realize it represented good performers. I've heard other good comments on Tahiti as a double that holds the blossoms upright more than other doubles. I'm glad to know Golden echo is very vigorous. I love that about any plant. High Society is very pretty.

It is really hard not to go overboard, really.....lol. I will try though, because once you have 400 bulbs sitting in your living room that have to be planted, it's too late. :-)

I live further south than you, but if I could only have one it would be Campernelle. It's a small bloom, but it comes in clusters, smells so sweet, is very early, has fine foliage that rots away more quickly and less noticeably, and multiplies into substantial clumps pretty quickly. It's mighty fine.

Thanks Donna, I'll check that one out!

The poets narcissus aka pheasant's eye. There are 2 main forms - Acteae, which flowers first and is slightly larger than poeticus recurvus (my favourite). The older (and rarer) recurvus has slightly twisted reflexed petals and a fantastic scent....which brings me to...the jonquils. Later to bloom, in May rather than March or April, the tiny Baby Moon is one of the fragrances of spring for me - you can keep your sickly paperwhites and even hyacinths - the jonquilla narcissi are matched only by the common promrose for heart-lifting fragrance and delicate beauty so rarely seen in many of the modern garish daffodils.

I just noticed your response, Campanula. I think I need to check off having responses emailed to me so I won't miss them. I appreciate your recommendations and luckily I haven't ordered my bulbs yet. Thanks.

Campanula,
That post was nothing short of inspirational, i'm very moved :) I am now on the look out for jonquila. lol

An unfortunate coincidence, 2 days prior to reading your post I was staring jonquilla baby moon in the face, among about 50 other spring bulbs at a store. In the end, I went with hyacinth city of haarlem because it seemed to be highly regarded as a fragrant, and unusually colored hyacinth. I regret my choice.....might be going back there to pick up baby moon for that "heart-lifting" fragrance. They are really adorable little flowers.

I also found that hyacinth very rarely propagate themselves, and need to be lifted and scored after going dormant if you want it to spread......among other unfavorable mentions on hyacinths. I still adore them, and look forward to the fragrance each year at a public garden. Hopefully city of haarlem will not be fussy in my yard.

As my favorite daffodil, don't have one. This is my first year messing with daffodils. I picked up a mixed set of 'ice king' and 'delnashaugh'. Hope they perform well. Hopefully I snag some baby moon before it's too late. I feel a favorite coming on if I get it.

Auron22, I did end up ordering Baby Moon and I'm looking forward to that. I also have ordered City of Haarlem and I don't think you will regret it. I like mine and they seem to stay upright better than other hyacinths I've ordered. They have come back for me two years now.

Tete a tete, Jetfire, Nylon, Acropolis.

And, if I really could have only one - N. cyclamineus. Because.

Prairiemoon2,
I am relieved to hear positive things about city of haarlem. A critter dug one of my bulbs up, it must have been curious as to why the fresh hunk of dirt was there...and once it realized it was hyacinth it left it alone. Good news to me seeing critters don't like it.lol. If these turn out, I might get other recommended colors for a colorful spring border.

Since my post I've purchased baby moon, among with 2 other jonquilla varieties for a full season of jonquilla daffodils. According to the paper..."pipit" is an early spring bloomer, "bell song" is mid spring, and "baby moon" is late spring.
I created a new bed just for them, it will look sparse the their first year I imagine, but they will probably fill out some as the years go on? I'll probably put one or two things in the bed amongst them for summer/fall interest next year.

Really excited for spring now :) Just hope my new daffodils and hyacinth survive the winter...among other purchases I've made this year. My garden is fairly new, and much can be done.

Great Auron, glad you were able to pick up Baby Moon. I hope your City of Haarlem will work out well for you next spring. I haven't received my order but I am also really looking forward to spring. I am working hard in my garden this fall to get as many things ready for spring as I can, so when the bulbs come up, the garden looks good to go with them. (g)

Believe it or not, you would think as an 'old' gardener, we would have less to do, but I think every year I have just as much to do as the year before. There's always something that needs tending the more your garden grows. :-)

In zone 6b, you should be all set, can't think of one reason why your hyacinth and daffodils wouldn't come up next year. Good luck!

I'd have Narcissus pseudonarcissus, our wild daffodil. And I'd have an old apple orchard for it to naturalise in. Maybe a lake beside the orchard ..... And if I was allowed one extra I'd have the Pheasant's Eye, like Campanula said, to come along a bit later.

What I would not choose under any circumstance is anything split corollaed or 'pink'.

Thanks flora, that sounds like a lovely landscape. :-)