Photography: Kirstie Young

There’s little cheerier than a bunch of daffs. We’ve celebrated them (and a few tasty spring recipes, too) in our feature ‘Nature’s Table’ by Lia Leendertz in our March issue. Picking a few daffodils in the garden to bring indoors or even spontaneously throwing a couple of bunches in your shopping basket are one of spring’s greatest joys. Here’s how to make the most of them.

Learn from the Dutch and never mix daffodils with another type of flower. They’re thought to secrete a sap that kills other flowers off. You can get round this by placing them in a vase of water for half an hour or so by themselves first and then not retrimming the stems when you pop them in with other flowers. But frankly, who has time for this? And why not let them stand alone in all their daffodilly glory?
Despite their strong structural look, daffs have something a bit wild about them, so giving them a laid-back vessel to hang out in always suits them. A nice squat jug or a big teapot always looks jolly. Trim the stems down so they don’t sit too tall in the jug.
Change their water ever couple of days and keep it topped up. Daffs like a good drink.
If you’re using a taller, more traditional vase, you can give the flowers a ‘tidier’ look by tying them with twine and letting them bunch up together on one side, rather than spend the coming week trying to keep them evenly spaced around all sides of the vase. If the empty space on the other side of the vase bothers you, pop a couple of large, ornamental pebbles in with the tied posy.
If the whole ‘arranging’ bit is too stressful, break them up. A row of jam jars, each with a single daffodil in has a rustic look that suggests you just flung them there by accident (rather than spent all morning finding enough empty jam jars at the back of the cupboard). It looks very effective, at any rate.

Alternatively, fling them artfully on a nature table or snuggle them next to some fig and walnut scones (recipe in our March issue), as pictured above. Spring has definitely sprung.

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