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  For over fifty-nine years,  the Garden Club of Gloucester VA, has held its annual Daffodil Show. This show is something you won’t want to miss, as people come from all over to enter their horticultural, artistic and photographic entries in the show. This year’s show will be held at Page Middle School in Gloucester.

There will be a dazzling array of daffodil specimens. An astounding 1800 blooms  were entered in last year’s horticultural division show, making it one of the largest shows in the United States. There are very few places that you can go to view so many exquisite varieties of daffodils in one place. The Garden Club of Gloucester show is an accredited American Daffodil Society show and one of the best shows anywhere. “Daffodils aren’t just yellow anymore,” so enjoy the show.

In addition to vendors, art displays, a parade and food, daffodil gardens will be on display. The grassy island near the center of town where the statue of Pocahontas stands will be planted with this year’s theme garden.
The most  extensive gardens will be at Brett and Becky’s (7900 Daffodil Lane), just outside the village; shuttles will run there throughout the event. Click here for detailed information on the Festival   

Brent Heath and his wife, Becky, continue the business launched nearly a century ago by Brent’s Grandfather, Charles Heath . Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, and the Heaths’ fields are one of the most popular destinations of the festival.

History of Daffodils in the Gloucester Area
The first person who recognized the value of growing daffodils in Gloucester was Eleanor Linthicum Smith, who in the late 1800s hired children to pick the wildflowers for 10 cents per 100. She shipped them to Baltimore, MD, where they were distributed to florists. Other entrepreneurs got into the act, planting bulbs each year wherever there was an available piece of land. Sales of Tidewater-grown flowers expanded up and down the East Coast.

Prominent names in the Gloucester VA daffodil industry in the 50’s  included the Clements, Emorys, ,Heaths, Hicks, Hammers and Hopkins.
Businesses included River’s Edge Flower Farm, the Daffodil Mart, the C.H. Hammer Nursery, M & G Transportation, and R.L. Mickelborough and Sons of Mathews.  Their businesses were vital to the people of Gloucester, VA, who relied on them for employment. As a by-product daffodils continued to grow and permeate the countryside, adding to the natural beauty of the area.

In 1938, approximately 120,000 daffodils a day were shipped to markets from approximately 30 local farms in the Gloucester and Mathews VA area.

In the early 1960’s it was reported that Gloucester and Mathews Counties were still the principle centers of daffodil culture in the U.S., with more than 24 million daffodils being shipped out each spring.

The first “Narcissus Tour” in Gloucester , VA. was held March 18 – April 9, 1938. It was estimated that 3,000 people took the tour and came from the states and cities of New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland, Boston, Cleveland and Detroit.

Read more about the History of Daffodil Growing in Gloucester VA here

The Gloucester and Mathews area’s of Virginia aren’t limited solely to gardeners. With 214 miles of shoreline in a county with a mere 87 square miles of land mass, Gloucester boasts so many creeks and tributaries and riverfront — not to mention Chesapeake Bay Frontage — that no part of it is ever more than a 15- or 20-minute drive from water. The importance of water to both counties is evident in the number of marinas, fishing boats and recreation opportunities that make up the bulk of the tourism scene.

Thinking of moving to Gloucester or Mathews Virginia ? Click here to search homes for sale in the area

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