Saturday 10 March 2012

Through Drifts of Wild Daffodils

Once one of the most common wild flowers to be found in the English and Welsh countryside, the wild daffodil suffered a decline in the mid-nineteenth century.  It was, however, grown en masse and harvested by entrepreneurial locals as a cash crop, capitalizing on its popularity.  The decline of this practice combined with agricultural intensification and mismanagement of its habitat probably explains why wild populations have become rarer.

As well as being a national symbol of Wales, it is also the County Flower of Gloucestershire.

It currently survives in patchy populations, often scattered across the western side of  Britain.

Wild Daffodil - Lent Lily
We saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road.  They grew among the mossy stones about and about them; some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness, and the rest tossed and wheeled and danced, and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind, that blew upon them over the lake; they looked so gay, ever glancing, ever changing.
Dorothy Wordsworth


Daffodil drift
 For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood
They flash upon the inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.
Wm. Wordsworth


Wild daffodils at Stourhead
 "I hate daffodils says wild flower lover on one-man mission to rid countryside of mass-produced bulbs"  read this article here

9 comments:

  1. Such a shame there arent more wild daffodils left. I do love all daffodils though!
    We bought some from Heligan when we visited last year and the smell is divine, I hadnt even realised that daffodils had a scent to them!

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  2. we have been told we have wild daffodils they grow in the meadow and look very similar to ordinary daffodils but have very short stems.
    They are beautiful I have to be careful not to tread on them as they grow across the footpath.

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  3. I don't think we have any wild daffodils around here, but on a more positive note, the cultivated ones are just beginning to bloom.

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  4. How beautiful! Daffodils are such a classic sign of spring. Such a shame the wild ones are becoming a rare sight where you live.

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  5. Great post Elaine as always but I thought the leek was the national symbol of Wales?

    BTW are you on FB I know you're following my pg http://www.facebook.com/thegardendesignco just asking as on ocassion I give your blog posts a plug there.

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  6. How could anyone not see a sea of daffodils and not just love them is beyond me. I find nothing common about them. That mass of them at Strourhead is simply gorgeous.

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  7. This was food for the soul...lovely! I am attempting, very slowly, to create these beautiful daffodil drifts in areas of my garden. It may take years, but I am looking forward to the day when there are drifts.

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  8. Lovely pics of the beautiful daffs. Sadly I don't know of any wild ones round here.

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