Why are there so many daffodils in Jersey?

Jersey's fields and country roadsides have been awash with bright yellow over the last few weeks, with daffodil season in full swing.

So much so that they have been the subject of a special talk from Jersey Heritage this week, looking at how the island came to have so many of them.

Tim Ward, Jersey operations director of Albert Bartlett, said there had been a "deliberate effort over the years to add charm to the island by planting them".

However, he said that this year commercial daffodils "haven't been profitable", leading to many of them being left in the fields.

There's a significant commercial element to Jersey's brightest spring blooms, with the island heavily involved in daffodil production.

Some of the island's farmers have been involved in producing the trumpet-shaped flowers for the last 60 years.

"There's a huge industry in the UK and Jersey has contributed a lot to that... we've always been the first to market in terms of everything we've grown," Ward said.

"At one point a number of daffodils were grown indoors in glasshouses which made sure they got to the market before anything got there from competing regions."

This year market conditions have proved difficult, which is why there are swathes of yellow across many island fields.

He said: "The way the market has been in the UK it hasn't been that profitable, and we've unfortunately had to leave a lot of the flowers in the field, which has been great for locals and it looks fantastic, but commercially not necessarily the best thing for us really."

Its not just commercial reasons for the daffodils proving eye-catching.

Ward said there has been a "deliberate effort" to ensure daffodils bloom all over the island at this time of year as "a way of helping the island look its best".

He said: "Some of it happens naturally, with bulbs dropping out the back of trailers, but over the years some landowners have requested it, and farmers too, so we've put them on banks and edges of fields and that sort of thing.

"It's really satisfying. Seeing a big field of daffodils is great but even just seeing a clump of daffodils on a bank, glowing yellow is pretty good, it's uplifting".

He also pointed to how prolific they can be, popping up in all sorts of unexpected places.

He said: "I think it's great... and you notice how reproductive they are. You'll see a lot of hedgerows where bulbs have been harvested and then discarded, and lost in the hedges and so on.

"The bulbs will keep reproducing year after year after year, which is brilliant for the island."

Some islanders have questioned whether they are allowed to pick daffodils they see on field banks around the island.

It is an offence to pick some wild plants, but daffodils are not on the list of those that are protected.

Ward said they will often bounce back: "To be fair, quite often once it's been picked, the bulb stays in the ground and it will reproduce for another season."

He also said you need to be a bit careful when handling the flowers: "You can get a rash from them, there's also a toxin that comes out of the stem.

"If you're mixing them with other flowers, you should put them in a vase of water on their own for a couple of hours before introducing them to others, as it can destroy or cut the life down of other flowers."

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