Spring is here!

Bursts of yellow have filled the Woodlands in Christchurch’s Botanic Gardens over the last week, as the first of the garden’s spring bulbs begin blooming.

The daffodils in the park, which have become an iconic attraction for tourists and locals, are blossoming into flower right on time.

Many of the daffodil bulbs springing into life are from bulbs over 80 years old, donated and planted by Christchurch locals in 1933.

They’ve survived earthquakes, floods and snow, and Botanic Gardens Collections Team Leader Richard Poole said they will be at their best in the first two weeks of September.

"It’s very hard to predict when they’ll bloom and we get a lot of tourists wanting to know which week of the year is the best. Every year is different but right now it’s looking like early to mid-September will be the very best time,” Mr Poole said.

The oldest daffodil clusters are in the Woodland area, next to the site of the new Christchurch Hospital building. Other clusters around the band rotunda and on the banks of the Avon were also popular spots.

“We do plantings every few years, but definitely not every year. There were a few plantings in the 80’s near the band rotunda and then in the 90’s we planted the top plateau between the band rotunda and the road with King Alfred and Unsurpassable Golden Trumpets … They traditionally flower earlier and we thought that would be good because people would see them from the road and it would draw them in.”

A planting in the plateau area in Autumn this year saw staff plant 10,000 bulbs in one morning.

When this season’s flowering finishes, staff will leave the area untouched to allow each bulb to reabsorb nutrients from its stems and leaves. To the untrained eye, it looks like an unmown lawn, but it is essential food for the next year’s flowering.

“Several things affect the flowering. We know that a long, dry summer leads to good flowering the following year, and a wet winter helps things as well.”

Find out more on the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.