Daffodils only fleeting blooms
The Marlborough Express
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The Cancer Society's biggest annual fundraiser has hit a snag some of the flowers have died before Daffodil Day.
Flowers supplied by Christchurch-based company Floramax to Marlborough, Nelson and Dunedin were grown from a strain of bulbs that produced blooms which only last 24 hours.
Marlborough Cancer Society manager Margot Wilson said so far there had been about a dozen cases of flowers wilting prematurely, but "if anybody does have any daffodils that have wilted after two days, give us a call and we'll replace them."
Mrs Wilson said the Marlborough Cancer Society had received about 1200 bunches from Floramax for pre-orders, but all the flowers for tomorrow's Cancer Society's annual Daffodil Day street appeal were locally donated and picked. She said it was the first time in her nine years of dealing with Floramax that a problem like this had occurred.
The wilted flowers are a bigger problem in Nelson, where Cancer Society manager Wendy Hope said most of the flowers provided to businesses had wilted overnight. She apologises profusely to businesses.
Daffodils will be sold on the street tomorrow. Another fundraising event tomorrow is the Big Yellow Breakfast where wraps and coffee will be prepared and either delivered or picked up by people who have placed orders or who simply turn up at Market Place from 7am to 9am.
John's Kitchen Koha Cafe is selling soup for 50 cents for Daffodil Day. Co-ordinator Yvonne Dasler said "three of the kitchen's regular volunteers are living with cancer and we thought it would be a nice thing to do".
