The Lincolnshire daffodil man with the midas touch has struck gold again with his display of daffodil flowers at the Chelsea Flower Show. Johnny and his team representing the specialist daffodil mail-order collection of Taylors Bulbs, have worked their way through yet another nerve racking and tense build-up to display daffodils later than nature would normally allow.
The display of 86 varieties and 2500 flowers covers 12 weeks of flowering and is the result of 15,000 flowers grown in controlled conditions every year especially for the show. Varieties from February Gold which, as the name suggests, normally flowers in the garden in February, through to Pheasant’s Eye, the genuine old fashioned favourite that flowers in early May.
Sallyanne Foreman 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. This year we had a particularly trying period over the weekend of 7th/8th May when outside temperatures soared to 25°C which brought the flowers on faster than we would have liked with some flowers even blooming straight up in the air! Thankfully the temperature dropped just in time giving the bulbs a chance to develop their stems before the buds burst into flower.”
The flowers are cropped fully open and kept in cold store for up to 10 days before the show but only have an average life of a few days in the floral pavilion so the display is re-staged twice to keep the standard high until the end of Saturday.
Johnny says “The weeks running up to the show are exhausting and stressful but we all support each other and hope nature allows us to put on a grand display. I’m particularly proud to show such a spread of flowering time this year as visitors are always amazed when we explain the difference between the varieties. Daffodils from February to May in one day!”
For any further information, please contact Walkers Bulbs on 01406 426216 or Johnny Walkers on 07718 625890.
