FESTIVALS

Filoli Center is hosting its Daffodil Daydreams celebration for people of all ages to enjoy the spectacular early spring flowering of the Filoli gardens and three days of talks, demonstrations, activities for children and families, garden walks with horticulturalists and the “Patterns and Abstractions of Nature” art exhibit. Talks will be given by Bob Spotts, President of the Northern California Daffodil Society, Lucy Tolmach, Filoli’s Director of Horticulture, and Lee McCaffree, Filoli Botanical Art Instructor. There will be a variety of demonstrations in the areas of painting, the French mosaic technique of Pique Assiette, flower arranging, Botanical painting, and crafts for children of all ages. Artists are invited to photograph and paint in the garden on Friday, February 26 and Sunday February 28.

This year’s Daffodil Daydreams Celebration is noteworthy because Filoli was recently selected as an American Daffodil Society (ADS) Display Garden, becoming the only designated daffodil display garden on the west coast. Filoli was chosen because its extensive daffodil collection has significant historical, public service and educational focuses. Filoli’s collection includes well-maintained daffodils grown by the tens of thousands in many different landscape situations, representing 122 different cultivars.

Filoli's collection is historically significant, because the original daffodils were planted during what is referred to as the "Great Daffodil Renaissance" of the early 20th century, when estate owners like the DuPonts, Rockefellers and Bourns (at Filoli) were mass-planting hillsides and whole fields of daffodils in the English landscape style. Filoli grows 37 historic varieties of daffodils that are registered with the Royal Horticultural Society from before 1940. This year Filoli will have a new display of early blooming miniature daffodils planted for children. This display represents 13 different daffodil cultivars and a total of 7,000 bulbs planted in shallow containers which will be displayed by the Visitor and Education Center, where they can be viewed close-up.