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Daffodil Season Is Here

© Clay Higgins

Daffodil Season

The harbinger of spring, the daffodil, is here . It's made its annual appearance with all it's bright and cheerful glory.

So how do we pick daffodils for home use and show? It's relatively easy and a lot of fun.

Daffodils will only stay in their peak of bloom for about a week when cut or picked. That time is shortened when kept in a house or office warmed for human habitation. Daffodils are a cold loving flower, and we should do what we can to help it adjust to our living temperatures.

In the garden, pick large bright daffodils, and I say pull them with your hand using a gentle twist. It you cut with a knife, you may spread virus by the jucies that collect on the knife. So if you use a knife, keep a small jar of liquid household bleach and dip the knife after each cut.

Make sure the daffodils that you pick have six petals, and are free from nicks and tears. Sometimes, the wind damage can be fairly severe and many daffodils will have to be by-passed, however, there are always some beautiful ones that are an excellent choice. Chose fresh daffodils. Pass up those daffodils that have petals that are becoming transparent, or has brown aging signs on the petals. An old daffodil will just continue to die, no matter what.

Collect the daffodils in a container with water that is about 80 degrees until you can get them in the house. For those that show their daffodils, take a ball point pen, and write the name of the daffodil on the back as soon as you pick it. To do this, just lay the daffodil across the open palm of the hand letting the bloom hang down. Print the name gently on the back of the daffodil with the ball point pen. I try to write the name above the water level, just in case the writing might come off.

Once in the house, find a place such as your kitchen sink where you can work and cut each stem with a sharp knife at a 45 degree angle. Place the newly cut flowers into water that is again about 80 degrees. The warm water will be absorbed into the daffodil in a process called hardening, which is a bloating of the daffodil. The hardening process will help the daffodil retain it's freshness longer. Fifteen or twenty minutes is usually long enough for the hardening process. For those that show daffodils, it is best to do any grooming before the hardening, as hardening does just that; it makes the daffodils hard and therefore hard to work with.

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