Daffodil sales to businesses have been axed this week as organisers of a cancer charity drive struggle to come up with the favourite springtime flowers.
Wairarapa Daffodil Day co-ordinator Pip Murdoch said more than 800 bunches were usually picked and sold to businesses and the public during the Cancer Society's Daffodil Week but due to the weather this year's total was likely to be just a quarter of that figure. "We've probably got about 200 bunches if we're lucky, it could be less than a quarter actually."
But while businesses would miss out on the charity buy-up, volunteers were still hard at work sorting and bunching the flowers to be sold in towns throughout Wairarapa today. They will be available for $8 a bunch.
Mrs Murdoch said it wasn't just last week's snow dump that was to blame for the smaller crop this year. "The snow didn't help but it's the whole winter really. But that's Mother Nature - there's nothing you can do about it."
In a letter to Wairarapa businesses this week it was noted that the lead-up to Daffodil Day was always "hold-your-breath time" for the Cancer Society.