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Daffodils: a Sunny Sign of Spring

Updated: Jun 17, 2021

After a long Canadian winter, the sunny hues of daffodils are a joy to see each spring. Daffodils come in a wide range of flower shapes and colours. One article said there are 13000 different daffodil varieties in the world, wow!



On our farm we currently grow 9 varieties daffodils. Those nine varieties fall into 3 types of daffodils: cupped, double, and butterfly. Let's take a look at the characteristics of each daffodil type.

Cupped Daffodils

Cupped daffodils are the most common daffodil flower style with a cup or trumpet in the center. The specialty varieties of cupped daffodils feature bi-coloured cultivars with the outer petals and trumpet being different colours.

In our flower field we have Pink Charm, Poeticus Recurvus, and Red Ranger cupped varieties and each is a bi-colour variety.

Double Daffodils

Double daffodils resemble peonies or carnations more than classic daffodils. We currently grow Acropolis, Delnashaugh, and Tahiti double daffodil varieties. Each of these has multiple colours per bloom. Flower colours range from yellow, white to peach, pink, and orange in multiple combinations depending on the variety.

Butterfly Daffodils

Butterfly daffodils are also called split corona daffodils. Characterized by their split trumpet these daffodil types have a more open flower style than a classic daffodil and have the appearance of the spreading wings of a butterfly. Blazing Starlet, Lemon Beauty, and Mondragon are the butterfly varieties in our field this season.


How to Properly Harvest Daffodil for Cut Flowers

When it comes to harvesting daffodils for cut flowers there are a few things to keep in mind:

  • For longest vase life cut the stem close the ground when the bloom is at the "goose neck" stage. The picture below shows the goose neck stage, just before the flower bursts open.


  • Daffodils are sap producers and the toxic sap they emit can damage other flowers if not handled properly. Sap is also a skin irritant, so wear gloves when cutting daffodils.

  • Place daffodil cuttings in a separate bucket of cold water to rest for 3-4 hours before mixing with any other flowers.

  • Do not recut stems after rest treatment or sap will ooze again.

We hope you have learned a little more about daffodils, a common spring flower that has so much to offer. In our opinion, a bouquet of mixed specialty daffodils is like a smile in a vase.

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