With spring right around the corner, Red Butte Garden has been hard at work preparing their sixth annual daffodil display. The remarkable display begins in early March (many of the flowers are already in bloom) and finishes around late May, according to the American Daffodil Society.
The American Daffodil Society says this display is one of three official daffodil displays in the entire West and the sole display in the state of Utah. Hundreds of varieties bloom at the Garden. Of course, the Garden features the classic yellow trumpet, but there are also several distinct types of daffodils on display.
“There is such a variety,” said Crystal Kim, a horticulturalist at the Red Butte Garden. “There are so many fun things to do with them.”
The flowers range in size, scent and color. Many are pink, many are white and still more are orange. The wide assortment provides visitors with a colorful, mesmerizing and enchanting experience.
The Garden uses daffodils as their main display piece because of the flowers’ unique properties. The daffodil is toxic to animals like deer and squirrels that normally raid spring blooms like tulips. Daffodils also undergo a process called naturalizing, where they slowly multiply underground. Over time, more daffodils will bloom than were planted, which makes them fantastic long-term perennial flowers.
Beyond daffodils, the Garden exhibit features spring blooms including many varieties of irises and a collection of crabapple trees. There are more than 450,000 bulbs to bloom this spring. Bryn Ramjoue, the director of communications at Red Butte Garden, estimates that only about 227,000 of those are daffodil bulbs.
The display is planted so that every day will look a little different from the day before. While the majority of the daffodils bloom in April, many have already begun, according to Kim.
The daffodils encompass the majority of the Garden, but the bulk of the daffodils begin at the front of the Garden, in the Four Seasons Garden. “If you walk around, you see great big swaths of landscape in various shades,” Ramjoue said. “The garden is blanketed in daffodils.”
Local landscaper Peter Lassig created the second stage of the daffodil display: the Floral Walk. A beautiful corridor lined with daffodils and other spring blooms, the Floral Walk is a welcoming addition to the scenic and extravagant display that feels like walking into another world.
The final area of the display includes the Rose Garden. Aptly named, the rose garden’s romantic atmosphere dramatically enhances the experience, creating a space of peace and tranquility.
Despite the dramatic increase in attendance during the daffodil display season, the Garden remains “quiet, peaceful, still,” says Ramjoue.
U students get in free with UCards, and the garden extends closing hours to 7:30 p.m., beginning in April. It is the perfect activity, as finals come up, for students to de-stress. The Red Butte Garden is less than a mile from campus and only a short ride on the black shuttle.
Take a quiet stroll through the garden, sit and enjoy the atmosphere solo or bring friends and have an adventure at the only daffodil display in Utah.