Here’s How To Safely Mix Daffodils Into Your Spring Bouquet

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With £1 daffodils back in supermarkets, it can be tempting to grab a bunch to bulk out your current display – but make sure you do this first

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The sun has been shining across the UK over the past week. Spring is in the air, Easter is on the way, and daffodils are firmly back in the shops. In fact, most supermarkets flog the seasonal yellow blooms for just £1 per bunch – hard to resist.

If you’re planning on displaying your daffodils on their own, the job’s a good ‘un. But if you’re thinking of bulking out another bouquet of blooms with your daffies, practise a little caution. If you’ve tried this before, you’ll know daffies can spell the death of other flowers they’re close to due to their toxic sap. But here’s how to avoid that fate.

Why Do Daffodils Kill Other Flowers?

Daffodils kill other flowers in a bouquet because they exude toxic sap laced with a chemical called lycorine. If you’ve displayed daffies before, you might remember a sticky sap gathering at the ends of the stems, or even in the bottom of the vase. This also poisons the water the flowers are standing in, making it toxic for any flowers added to the vase, causing them to wilt and die swiftly.

It’s not just the sap, daffodils are poisonous top to toe. Pet owners should know this well: dogs and cats nibbling on daffies or unknowingly lapping at the water in the vase will experience vomiting, diarrhoea, skin irritation and even cardiac and respiratory issues, and should be taken to the emergency vet immediately.

Daffies are also incredibly toxic to humans, so keep curious little ones away from the pretty blooms, too. ‘When you first cut the bottom of the stems of daffodils, they’ll start to emit the sticky toxic sap,’ says Eflorist flower expert David Denyer. ‘You should always wear gloves when cutting daffodils as this sap can also be toxic to humans, causing some people to rash or itch when handling them.’

How To Mix Daffodils Into A Bouquet

It’s not the end of the road for your daffodil-infused spring bouquet (aka a ‘posy’ this time of year). ‘While daffodils look beautiful on their own, mixing them with other flowers is an easy way to brighten up a room and create depth to your bouquet,’ says flower expert David.

According to David, despite their toxic sap, daffodils can be safely mixed into any bouquet if you do one simple thing first. Once you’ve snipped off the end of your daffodil stems – ‘daffodils are soft-stemmed, so should be cut straight across the stem as opposed to the 45° angle other varieties need,’ David says – it’s isolation time. ‘Simply place your cut daffodils in some water for a few hours and allow the sap to drain before adding them to an arrangement of other flowers,’ David says. ‘That’s it! Don’t worry about having to isolate your daffodils every time you cut the stems and change the water of your bouquet – the initial draining and isolation should do the trick.’