Arrangements with Daffodils

The daffodil is the flower that tells you winter is over. Botanically it is Narcissus, a genus of roughly fifty species, and the trumpet-and-collar shape almost everyone pictures is only one of thirteen recognised divisions — there are also doubles, split-coronas, and the small, intensely scented jonquils and paperwhites that look nothing like a supermarket daffodil.

In Canada they are among the earliest bulbs to flower, pushing through cold ground in March and April, and in much of the country they will naturalise and come back larger every year. That earliness is most of why they carry the meanings they do: rebirth, new beginnings, and unwavering hope.

They are also the flower of a well-known warning. In Greek myth Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection and could not leave it, and the flower that grew where he died took his name. The association with vanity and self-regard has followed the daffodil ever since, sitting slightly awkwardly beside its sunnier meanings — which is exactly why a single daffodil is sometimes read differently from a bunch.

One practical note that matters more than it sounds: daffodils secrete a sap that shortens the life of other cut flowers, so a mixed arrangement containing them needs handling that a pure bunch does not.

Condition them alone first. Cut daffodil stems release a sap containing calcium oxalate that clogs the stems of tulips, roses and freesia and can cut their vase life dramatically. Stand daffodils in their own water for at least six hours, then move them into a mixed arrangement without recutting the stems — recutting restarts the sap.

Cool water, not warm. Unlike most cut flowers, daffodils last longer in cold water. Keep them somewhere cool and out of direct sun, and away from a fruit bowl: ripening fruit gives off ethylene, which ages them quickly.

Buy them in bud. Stems picked at the "gooseneck" stage — bud bent over and showing colour but not yet open — will open in the vase and last several days longer than stems bought fully open.

Do not strip the white base. The pale section at the bottom of the stem takes up water perfectly well; cutting into it is unnecessary and shortens the stem for nothing.

Expect five to seven days from a bunch bought in bud. Daffodils are toxic to cats and dogs, and the bulbs are toxic to people — worth knowing in a house with either.