Daffs taking centre stage

Wayne Hughes is looking forward to tomorrow's Wanganui show.

Wanganui daffodil grower Wayne Hughes has recorded major success at the South Island show, coming away with the champion bloom trophy as well as three other awards.

The South Island event was held in Hope and is one of two nationals held each year in both islands.

Along with the champion bloom, Mr Hughes collected the prestigious multi-head award as well as the trophy for historic bloom and best in section for a Silver Chimes daffodil he took south.

"Silver Chimes is a daffodil that was registered before 1914 but it's still winning shows," he said.

The standard at the South Island event was the best he had seen in a long time given the difficult season growers have experienced.

"It's been a very funny season - a lot flowers have come and gone already," Mr Hughes said.

"It's been one of the hardest seasons I can recall. There hasn't been as much rain as a lot of people might think and that's made it very hard."

He said last year he picked about 50 bunches of daffodils for the annual Daffodil Day for the cancer appeal.

"This year I picked about 300 bunches and all of that was before the appeal day."

Like other flower growers, his attention has turned to the Wanganui Horticultural Society's annual spring show tomorrow.

The show will also be hosting the Central Daffodil Club and will be staged in the Wanganui City College hall, Ingestre St.

Judging takes place from 7am to 11am with the show open to the public from 1pm to 4.30pm.

While daffodils take centre stage, there will also be cut flowers and floral art on display in the hall.