They are the bright yellow flowers that herald the much welcome dawn of spring.
But gardeners up and down the country are being warned they need to check their daffodils this year and report their findings.
That’s because garden charity the Royal Horticultural Society has launched an appeal to track down three lost daffodil species thought to be at risk or already extinct in the UK.
The charity wants to know the colour, type and height of your garden daffodils this spring in a bid to better understand what’s happening to the ubiquitous flowers and which ones may already be lost to climate change.
It is urging people to report sightings to its email address, along with a photo.
It said: “With hundreds of different daffodils thought to be found in the UK, we’re calling on you to log where daffodils are blooming in your area.
“We’ll ask some basic information such as colour, type and height. RHS scientists will use this information to help understand environmental influences on daffodils, buyer preferences and spread.
“We’re also calling on you to join the search for three daffodils that are either at risk or thought to be extinct in the UK.
“Locating these daffodils will help us aid their survival, better understand our gardening heritage, and even enable preservation of genetic material that could be valuable for future breeding of daffodils in the face of a changing climate.”
Dr Kálmán Könyves, Principal Scientist in RHS Science’s Cultivated Plant Diversity team and expert in classifying and recording daffodils, explains why we’re asking you to log when and where you see daffodils in flower.
“Daffodils have come to mark the arrival of spring and are celebrated for their welcome burst of colour in gardens, parks and roadsides.
“But there’s more to this ubiquitous yellow flower than meets the eye, with 31,000 known varieties available in green, pink and red. Understanding where they can be found will help us in preserving this diversity for the future.”
To report your daffodil, email daffodildiaries@rhs.org.uk, attaching a photo.
