GOOD PICKINGS: Judy Jephson with daughters Eden, 11 months, and Summer, 4, picking daffodils at Middlerun in Carterton. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
GOOD PICKINGS: Judy Jephson with daughters Eden, 11 months, and Summer, 4, picking daffodils at Middlerun in Carterton. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
Daffodils have burst onto the Wairarapa landscape with a vengeance this week after what many consider a slow start to the season.
Rural North Wairarapa is a sea of brilliant yellow and the proliferation of the blooms is being put down in part to the arrival of warm days afteran especially chilly August.
Gardening guru Gareth Winter said yesterday the daffodil bulbs had likely made good vegetation growth in the colder weeks but had awaited warmth before "bouncing forward" into bloom.
North Wairarapa was probably doing better than the southern parts of the valley because it largely dodged persistent southerly winds.
"The prevailing wind in the north is from the north-west, which is warmer and could help the flowering of the daffodils," he said.
Two weeks ago the Cancer Society Wairarapa was facing a shortfall in daffodils, due to an unkind winter, for its flagship fundraiser on August 29 and appealed to the public for daffodils.
Carterton is to stage its annual Daffodil Festival on Sunday, which includes daffodil picking at Middlerun and is a major fundraiser for Plunket and St John.
