Delayed season for U-Pick Daffodil farm in Bluffton. When will perennial favorite open?
Rainy and cold weather is preventing Bluffton’s U Pick Daffodil farm from opening as it usually does this time of year.
Visiting the farm has become a spring rite for families, flower-lovers and photographers alike, and co-owners Chuck and Diane Merrick had planned to be open for sweethearts on Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, that’s just not possible, Chuck Merrick said Monday.
“We are a little bit short on flowers because of the rain and the cold,” he said.
The muddy field conditions and parking area — not to mention the farm’s location on a dirt road — make it dangerous for customers.
“I don’t want someone slipping and falling down and getting hurt,” Chuck Merrick said by phone as he walked the fields.
“I’m out here trying to decide what would be best to do,” he said.
The family is now hoping to be able to open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, weather and blooms permitting. Closing early is a possibility if the blooms are picked out earlier, and there’s also a chance the farm won’t be able to open at all that day.
The weather forecast says Beaufort County will be sunny and cool on Saturday, with a high temperature in the mid-50s, according to the National Weather Service in Charleston. There is a chance of more rain between now and then.
For information about days the farm will be open, watch its Facebook page or go to its website at upickdaffodils.com. Those who’d like to check on the status of the flowers before making a longer commute can also text Chuck Merrick at 843-368-1998.
The fields are located at 48 Calhoun Plantation Road, just off Pinckney Colony Road.
Each stem is 50 cents. Cash and card payments will be accepted.
Family tradition
The U Pick Daffodil tradition started more than 50 years ago. Each year the farm has expanded to meet demand, and this year is no different.
Chuck Merrick uses a planting machine purchased from Holland — it is pulled behind a tractor — to plant tens of thousands of daffodil bulbs with varying blooming times so the farm can stay open longer.
Daffodils don’t grow easily in the Lowcountry climate, he previously told The Island Packet, and every year the farm loses about half of the ones they had planted in earlier years.
This year, he planted 36,000 new bulbs, and those haven’t bloomed yet because of the cold temperatures.
Does this mean the season that typically ends in March will be longer?
“It’s really hard to say,” Chuck Merrick said. “We are at the mercy of the weather and the flowers.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2023 at 12:50 PM.
