Delightful Daffodils

Yesterday was Mothering Sunday in the UK, where it is traditional to present mothers with a card and a bunch of flowers.  However, this year's cold winter weather meant that daffodils - a most traditional choice of  flowers for Mother's Day -  have not bloomed in time for this celebration.  The UK is the world's largest producer of daffodil cut flowers and makes £23 million per year from the daffodil industry.

Claire Taylor, who is chair of the British Daffodil Grower's Association, said florists were selling out. Daffodils are around four weeks behind compared to last year, meaning a much smaller crop available for this weekend.

"The bulbs are in the ground for two years and we had a cold winter last year and the last few months have been very cold and grey with no sun, so the daffodils are flowering late.

"I've had lots of people calling me and offering extra money for daffodils, but we just don't have enough to meet the demand," she said.

Mrs Taylor said they had picked 2,000 boxes of daffodils this year and in an average year they would have picked at least double this amount.

"Mother's Day is usually one of our busiest times of the year and normally we are racing around picking daffodils.

The lack of daffodils means the UK wholesale price for a bunch in Britain has gone up by 50 per cent in the last week.  At New Covent Garden market in London the wholesale price has now soared from 20p to 30p.  Waitrose and Sainsbury's have been selling British Daffodils for the usual price of around £1 for a bunch.

The UK produces half the world's daffodil bulbs, exporting 10,000 tons a year, worth around £7 million.

Happily Mrs Taylor hopes that if we have a few days of warm and sunny weather the daffodils should start emerging quickly and there will be a good crop for Easter.  Lets hope today's cold weather will not continue for the sake of the daffodils!

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9909944/Daffodil-shortage-for-Mothers-Day.html