Gardens: Growing daffodils for home and abroad

Nothing prepares you for your first glimpse of the huge daffodil fields at Logie, south of Montrose. Such is the impact of the yellow carpets stretching back into the distance that only the outline of the surrounding hills reminds you that this is the north of Scotland – just 35 miles south of Aberdeen – and not the bulb fields of Cornwall or even Holland.

Band after band of bright yellow, white and creamy flowers mix with green rectangles of flowers still in bud, creating a vibrant contrast to the muted browns of the surrounding countryside.

The surprise of this glorious sight is compounded by the knowledge that the mass-produced daffodils that grace our churches and tables at Easter are not always air-freighted or trucked in.

Mark Clark, managing director of Grampian Growers, the agricultural co-operative responsible for this striking display, explains: "It is not widely known that Angus and Aberdeen have over 1,300 acres of daffodils and we are one of the leading exporters of daffodil bulbs worldwide. Unless you live in the area and are used to seeing the vast fields of colourful flowers in April and May, they are a little bit of a hidden treasure."

Established in 1968 by six local farmers who had a brave vision of growing an unsubsidised crop, Grampian Growers started out with a small quantity of strawberry plants and daffodil bulbs. As these multiplied over the years, the acreage was increased.

Grants available at the time were used to purchase extra land and develop the existing site, where conditions were also found to be suitable for the production of seed potatoes. "Today we have growers providing seven million bunches of flowers, 4,500 tonnes of daffodils and 15,000 tonnes of seed potatoes," Mark says.

Planted in various soil types from heavy red clay to light sandy soils along the coast, the daffodils are grown within a 15 to 20-mile radius of the pack-house.

"A successful plant season can be influenced by several factors, some within our control, many without," Mark adds. "The timing of Easter has a major effect on the quantity of flowers we export. The later it falls, the more flowers we send to Holland, Scandinavia, France, Germany and the USA."

If Easter is early exports are limited and the majority of flowers are sold in Britain. The weather, Mark points out, also has a major impact on the growing season. "This year is a classic example, when we ran about three weeks behind the normal start time. This means we will miss the export market completely."

The co-operative's location so far north is both an advantage and a disadvantage: to achieve most favourable results a precise juggling act is necessary to get into the best markets.

When the main cropping markets, such as Cornwall or Lincoln, are early, Grampian Growers "can have the late market to themselves". If the southern markets are late the co-operative will need to seek markets farther afield. But this results in higher transport costs.

Growing 40 different varieties of daffodil results in a six-week harvesting period. The choice of bulbs is dictated by varying tastes, here and abroad. Foreign markets tend to prefer a pure yellow daffodil such as Standard Value, which is deemed to be an Easter flower.

"The export market takes primarily yellow daffodils," Mark says. "However, the UK multiples are much more adventurous, ordering whites, Red cups, Pinks, doubles and bi-colours among other varieties."

Yellow-cupped Carlton and pink and white Pink Pride are also popular choices.

Daffodils are cropped by hand, normally ten stems to a bunch. "The person who invents a machine to crop daffodils will be an instant millionaire," says Mark.

The pickers manage an average of 800 to 1,000 bunches each day. The flowers are placed in trays in the field and transported to the pack-house where they are checked for quality and cold-stored at 0.5C overnight.

Packed the following day, they are then transported under refrigeration. "For the USA the daffodils are air-freighted again in refrigerated compartments to the East Coast," Mark says.

The cool Scottish climate is ideal for these bulbs, which can cope with all kinds of weather, though they tend to suffer from disease in warm, wet conditions.

Pointing out that the bulbs multiply quickly and divide to form daughter bulbs, Mark adds: "Although bulbs are predominantly on a two or three-year cycle, they will last for eight to ten years for flower production. There are bulbs in the surrounding area that are 20 years old and in the main flower most years."

Work at the co-operative remains busy in summer: between July and September the daffodil bulb crop arrives at Logie dried and ready for packing.

Bulbs are then dispatched to customers in the US and mainland Europe for pre-packing and flower forcing markets. Indirect marketing results in a percentage of the co-operatives supplying some of their crop to two of Britain's major packers who supply all the major multiples. "We have started to pack for Tesco for their Scottish stores, which has worked well," says Mark.

So next time you purchase a bunch of daffs or a small packet of daffodil bulbs from your local supermarket, there is a chance they were grown in glorious profusion in wonderful surroundings right here in Scotland.

Grampian Growers, Logie, Montrose, Angus, www.grampiangrowers.co.uk

For a host of exciting new plant products,visit www.vanmeu-wen.com/scotsman

#149 This article was first published in The Scotsman on April 03, 2010