Support Daffodil Day on Friday, 27 March

The first glimpse of this year’s early daffodils means only one thing – spring is finally here. Bursting into bloom, daffodils signify new beginnings, sunny days, warmer weather and happy times. Most importantly, they signify hope and optimism, the perfect symbol for the Irish Cancer Society.

So as Irish Country Living drove past Noel Ruigrok’s farm just outside Rush, Co Dublin, we couldn’t help but smile looking at the fields of yellow flowers blowing in the wind beside the sea. It might look quite idyllic and calm, but with Daffodil Day on Friday, 27 March, this could be the farm’s equivalent of Christmas week.

“Yes, it's all systems go,” says Noel, who grows over 500,000 individual daffodils every year. In fact, if you pick up a bunch this weekend, there is a very good chance it is coming directly from his farm.

“I still remember getting the phone call from the Irish Cancer Society back in 1987,” although Noel confesses that he had to have a good think about just how long ago it was before we arrived at the office.

“They told me they were starting a fundraising day and would we be able to supply an order of daffodils? I said no problem. In fact, I tell them no problem every year, but over the 28 years the orders have just exploded.”

Daffodil Day over the years

Noel has made big changes over time to make sure they get the operation just right.

“At the beginning we were just supplying the daffodils, but now we do everything, delivering to every corner of the country. We know a few guys that do courier work and every year they take the day off so they can do a run for us. One guy in particular has been delivering for Daffodil Day for over 20 years and his boss just knows that he won’t be in that day, it’s his little gig with us. Having control of the deliveries means we know every order arrives safe. After all, it’s no good for the flowers to arrive the day after Daffodil Day.”

It is a lot of pressure, but the one thing that Noel doesn’t worry about too much is the daffodils themselves, even though they are the unpredictable and seasonal element of the whole operation.

“We have different varieties from early to mid-season and then late season, so although the weather is unpredictable, we are nearly guaranteed to have one variety in bloom for mid-March.

Family Business

Noel certainly knows his stuff. When we ask him how long the family business has been around, he laughs and pulls out a crumpled black and white picture of himself as a toddler in short pants in a field of flowers.

“It’s been that long,” he says proudly. “That isn’t a field on this farm though, that was on my grandfather’s farm, which was about two miles down the road in the centre of the town.”

Although the farm has changed location, flowers have always been the family business.

“My grandparents are from Holland and my grandfather ran his own flower business over there. However, in the 1930s, with the big depression, he couldn’t see how his four sons could ever make a living in that business. As he was a grower, he used to spend three months on the road, travelling around England and Ireland selling bulbs. So he applied for citizenship or naturalisation, as it was called back then I think. Quite simply, Ireland came through first and so they made the big move.”

It was no coincidence that the family found themselves in Rush though.

“My grandfather decided to rent land in the area because of the light sandy soil which is easier to till and heats up earlier in the spring.”

Although Noel’s father and uncles all worked the land over the years, it is himself and his brother Michael who have really kept the family business alive. And although there are 15 acres of daffodils, this is just one element of this seasonal business.

“Lilies are the flower that we grow most as well as sunflowers, crocuses and at the moment tulips.”

In fact, the Ruigrok farm has flowers on the go all year round to supply to the multiples.

“One of the things that I like most about the daffodils and the tulips is that they are an everyday flower. They are really affordable and people just pick them up in the supermarket as part of their weekly shop. It’s nice to know our flowers are blooming in houses across the country. We’ve noticed a real trend in recent years with the daffodils – people are buying them before they open up so they can see them bloom themselves at home.”

Daffodils by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed —and gazed— but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.