It's the time of year when the minds of gardeners turn to what to grow in spring and where to grow it, with daffodils top of the list for most. Narcissus pseudo narcissus has been a favourite since at least classical times, when the plant was supposedly named after Narcissus, the son of a river god. But the Roman writer Pliny didn’t buy that explanation for the name, claiming the bulb was so-called because its scent had narcotic characteristics.

With at least 50 wild species of narcissus to work on, breeders have developed thousands of different hybrid varieties that represent a mind-boggling choice of size, colour and habit for almost anywhere in the garden.

Even by the mid 18th century many varieties were on the market. In The Scots Gardeners Director (1754) the redoubtable James Justice chose to restrict himself to discussing the dozen or so "of those Cultures I know by my own Practice". He avoided "all the Sortes of Flowers that are found in Authors who have favoured the World with learned botanical Descriptions".

Justice went on to describe a planting approach that’s perhaps more suitable for a big house driveway, but could be adapted. "They make pretty Edgings for Borders on each Side of a Walk … [they should be planted] on Edgings immediately opposite each other and on the Inside of an Edging of Crocuses." He rightly urged his readers not to stint with numbers, with a fine display of 50 close-planted bulbs on each side of the path.

His readers were then instructed to make 10cm deep holes in moderately rich soil, with a 5cm leafmould mulch. Like me, you won’t have enough leafmould, but could use a different organic mulch, or simply plant bulbs 15cm deep.

If you don’t have or want a very formal border, you’ll probably find clump-forming groups more appealing, using Justice’s close planting, even if that means lifting and dividing bulbs every two or three years.

Informal planting in a semi-wild area – maybe in dappled shade, with grasses allowed to flower and seed – needs needs virtually no maintenance. Again, 15cm deep holes are essential.

Undoubtedly, containers are the best, and sometimes only, solution for many people. Although I’ve got a pretty large garden, I wouldn’t be without some pots of choice dwarf narcissi. Placed on a wall or windowsill, you can enjoy a whiff of Pliny’s narcotic brew and delight in all your miniature blooms.

In 1837, William Herbert, dean of Manchester, suggested the lesser orders could bring cheer to their lives with pots like this on their humble window ledges: "It is desirable to call the attention of the humblest cultivators, of every labourer indeed, or operative, who has a spot of garden or a ledge at his window, to the infinite variety of narcissi that may … be raised in pots at his window, offering him a source of harmless and interesting amusement, and perhaps a little profit and celebrity.’

Herbert was a keen narcissus breeder, and like so many men of the cloth seemed to have time and leisure to pursue their hobbies for the advancement of science. Bad luck for the poor old curates.

Wherever you’re planting narcissi, this is the best time to get going, as bulbs establish well before winter. Which? Gardening has just conducted trials on 19 different cultivars of dwarf narcissi to assess how planting times affected the bulbs.

The researchers found that bulbs planted now matured in late February; October ones flower in early March; and November and December ones in late March. September and October planted blooms lasted five or six weeks, while later ones only kept going for two to three weeks. And size was also affected, with autumn bulbs reaching between 19cm and 25cm, depending on variety, while later ones only reached 9cm to 21cm.