Exploring Australia's largest family-owned daffodil farm | My Garden Path | Gardening Australia

Head to a particular farm in Melbourne’s rural fringe in late winter and you’ll be confronted with a sea of searing yellow. Field after field of fragrant, abundant daffodils, jonquils and erlicheer coat the landscape like a colourful blanket. Subscribe 🔔 ab.co/GA-subscribe
It’s Blyth Bros farm in Warragul South, Australia’s largest daffodil grower, growing tonnes of flowers and millions of bulbs over hundreds of acres, shipped and sold all over Australia. The farm is a family business, run by John Blyth and his three sons, Peter, David and Nick. They’ve been growing flowers for three generations.
It’s hard to imagine looking at it now, but this farm had humble beginnings. John’s father started farming in the 1940s, after defaulting on a mortgage through the hardship of the great depression. John says “They came from nothing, less than nothing really because they had debts”
After a move to the current site in the 60’s, the farm and business has grown to what we see today. John’s three sons all work in the business and have done so since they were children. David handles the administration (“I do anything office-y”) and says “it’s the same story all over, none of us has stepped outside too far. I did a degree in horticulture at Burnley but came back here once I finished. This is what we do. Once you’re 8 or 9 years old you’re lifting bulbs or picking flowers. There’s no free rides on the farm”.
Operations:
Nick looks after marketing and sales and says with commercial daffodil growing “there’s two very separate parts of the year; there’s the flower season and the bulb season”. Blyth sells both cut flowers and bulbs wholesale to the horticulture market. “From August to early October is the flowering period, these are cut and sold as flowers all round Australia. There’s not too many places we don’t reach”.
“As the flowers and foliage die down, we lift them in early November. They’re lifted, cleaned, dried and the excess is sold to stores all over the place under different names and different labels”.
“By the time we’re finished lifting and grading them it’s time to put them back in the ground, it’s April. And then the first flowers start appearing in May”.
Varieties and Advice for Gardeners:
When asked how many varieties they grow, Nick laughs and says “it could be 60 or 70”. John is particularly keen on the new imported “modern varieties”. “Modern varieties are healthier and more free flowering. Everyone knows King Alfred you could build a business out of them well these are better. You see the flowers in the field they’re like hairs on a dog’s back. When we first came here we had these yellow trumpets…well you’d get tired walking from one flower to the next one”.
John says for the home grower “with the moderns you haven’t got to worry. You’ll immediately get really good results. You might put in 5 bulbs and then you’ll have 5-15 flowers..at the time of year when it’s the first sign of spring when all the leaves are off the trees. There’s value. They last really well as a cut flower, and the Melbourne climate generally is really good for them, they’re pretty good with pretty much no care”.
Working as a Family:
John credits the reason for his family’s success at they always enjoy lunch together on weekdays; “we’re able to talk about what is happening on the farm and how to solve any problems before they can become big problems”. “I’m fortunate. I’ve always taken the approach of not being the boss, but the chairman, just pointing things in a direction. The relationship between them has gotten better as they get older”. John’s getting on but he still chips in, “during summer I cut a lot of weeds. There’s a big garden round the house and I work on that, you need to get some dirt under your fingers”.
Featured Plants:
JONQUIL - Narcissus tazetta ‘Avalanche’
DAFFODIL - Narcissus tazetta ‘Hollands Chase’
DAFFODIL - Narcissus tazetta ‘Fragrant Breeze’
DAFFODIL - Narcissus tazetta ‘Replete’
Filmed on Gunaikurnai and Bunurong | Warragul South, Vic
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[@bodie3690]

what an absolutely beautiful old man

[@karend6987]

This is my farming community. It makes me proud to see them have a segment on GA when they work so incredibly hard. The paddocks are lined with yellow and it brings so much cheer when drive out to my parent's and the beach (towards Inverloch). 🥰🌼 The Blythe's are a beautiful family. 💚

[@naominaomi440]

What a great story! Love the family togetherness and lunch together everyday 💚 Real feel good and gorgeous Australian product 👍🤗

[@GardeningAustralia]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@wtx23j]

Bless this beautiful family. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful story with us.

[@73m98]

I loved the Blyth family

[@KLMN890]

So beautiful

[@gardenx5574]

Daffodils are my favorite flower. What a beautiful family story.

[@_OceanBlooms]

What a beautiful family 💚

[@thestarspark2288]

Aww what a beautiful legacy and a lovely family. Gorgeous flowers too!

[@roselilopes6973]

A lovely family!

[@mattduddy1459]

Wow! Very impressive.

[@v.mishrasart43]

Very nice👍👏😊

[@drpk6514]

Symbiotic microbes would significantly help your plants as these flowers are not dependent on chemical fertilisers. You could use the commercial products for example from New Edge Microbials or use worm tea. You could produce them in commercial-scale too.

[@annkus3]

My mum always said that daffodils brings death, and my father said wattles also causes death. Woe the old fashion was.

[@drtamilkrishnareddiyarvilati]

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