Grooming Daffodil For the Show and For Home Decorations
© Photo of Carneary by Clay Higgins
Just a little effort on your part will brighten your daffodils, regardless if they are to be used in the show or for decoration at home. I'll tell you a few little tricks that are easy and can make a great difference.
I have made these tricks a habit for picking daffodils, regardless if for home or show. Just like at the show, daffodils will be brighter and more glorious if they get just a little TLC (that's tender loving care). You will like what you see.
When you first pick the daffodil, hold the flower firmly at the base of the stem where it was cut or snapped off. With your other hand gently slide your hand along the stem to the neck, while straightening it. This process helps accomplish two things, one it helps keep the juices in the daffodil and two it straightens the stem. Sometimes, you have to hold the stem at the base and the neck and gently twist the stem straight. The stem will straighten and the appearance of the daffodil is greatly improved. The stem may have to be held straight for a few minutes before it becomes "trained" and will stay staight on it's own.
The daffodil should look straight at you when it is standing straight up. This means it should be held slightly above the 90 degree elbow from the stem as held by the neck. This is true for all daffodils except the triandrus and the cyclamineus which have drooped heads, and the tazetta that will have a mulliple floret cone shaped head. For the standard daffodil, you can make the head stay up my gently bending the head (actually the neck) upwards until it is in the right position, and holding it in a place for a couple of minutes until it is trained.
The daffodil has six petals, with three petals back and three petals forward. The standard position for a daffodil is that there is a top petal and a bottom petal. If we use the clock as a template, and hold the flower in front of us with the stem straight down, the top and bottom petals should be in a straight line with the stem at 90 degrees from level as seen in this picture. The top petal should be in a straight line with the stem, and be at the 12 o'clock position. The bottom petal should also be in a straight line with the stem and at the 6 o'clock position. A gentle twist of the neck will train the flower to the right postion.
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