The specialist daffodil collection of Taylors Bulbs, based in Lincolnshire have worked their way through yet another nerve racking and tense build-up to put on a gold medal winning display of daffodil flowers at the Chelsea Flower Show. This Gold Medal is the company's 32nd at Chelsea Flower Show and their 30th consecutive Gold with the first being won in 1986.

The display of 38 varieties and over 1100 flowers covers 12 weeks of flowering and is the result of over 30,000 bulbs grown in controlled conditions every year especially for the show, featuring varieties which normally flower in the garden as early as January right through to early May.

Charlotte Daubney explains; “The bulbs are planted after Christmas and kept temperature controlled until they go into the greenhouse 4 weeks before Chelsea.  In the first week we see leaf growth develop and then flowers beginning to form within 10 days.  This year has presented it’s own challenges compared to other years with a heat wave soaring temperatures to over 32 degrees Celsius in the glasshouse 2 weeks prior to the show. Thankfully we could crop very early in the morning to avoid such huge temperature differences going into the coldstore and there were over 71 varieties and 6,000 stems for the display”

The flowers are cropped fully open and kept in cold store for up to 2 weeks before the show, they only have an average life span of a few days in the Grand Pavilion so the display is re-staged twice to keep the standard high until the end of show week.

Charlotte says “The weeks running up to the show are intense and exhausting for the team but like a well oiled machine, pull on everyone’s strengths and hope nature allows us to put on a grand display.  I’m particularly proud we are showing such a diverse range of varieties flowering at this time of year, it certainly amazes the visitors! You won’t see Daffodils from January to May in one day anywhere else! 

www.taylors-bulbs.com