- Author: Libbey McKendry
Spring is daffodil time and recently my family and I visited the beautiful Daffodil Hill located in Amador County near the town of Volcano, about 50 miles east of Sacramento and Stockton. The display was dazzling with many picturesque scenes and the crowds were huge! Unfortunately the only day we could go was on a Saturday and I'm sure we spent a least a half hour driving the last half mile before we were directed into the temporary parking lot. But, it was well worth the effort.
Daffodil Hill is a multi-generation, family-owned ranch dating from the early 1800's. What started with just a few daffodils and one dedicated gardener is now a huge family and volunteer project of planting and caring for over 300 daffodil (Narcissus) varieties producing 400,000 blooms, along with a few tulips (Tulipa).
Each year sometime in March to mid-April, depending on the weather, Daffodil Hill opens to the public and sees as many as 4,000 visitors a day. I'm sure we were there on one of those days! It is a community effort to celebrate spring and keep the “old place from falling to ruin and neglect as so many of these old country places are doing and perpetuating the memory of parents, grandparents and those early-day farm folk whose way of life was so hard and so different from our present way of like” (as stated by the family in the one page hand out describing the history and current practices of Daffodil Hill). Entry and parking is free with donation cans here and there to help pay for the event and volunteers give out information and sell souvenirs. There is a picnic area with tables and the local Soroptimist Club has food available to purchase.
This year the blooming season was projected to be three weeks long and we were fortunate to catch the show the second weekend because the weather was so warm the blooms blew out fast and they unexpectedly closed the next week. People who were planning to see it the last weekend lost out this year because Mother Nature always has her say! Some years there is snow still on the ground and others like this one the blooms come and go quickly.
The Hill is open seven days a week during the season from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. If possible you will want to visit on a weekday to miss the big crowds although I don't know if the Soroptimist Club has their food concession open on the weekdays. We are lucky to have family living in the area watching the local paper, but the next best way to know when the Hill will be open is to watch the Amador County Chamber web site: http://www.amadorcountychamber.com/site/pages/home.cgi or call one of these phone numbers: McLaughlin's Daffodil Hill: (209) 296-7048 or Amador County Chamber of Commerce: 1-800-649-4988.
I know all this information is too late for this year but I hope you will put a note on your calendar and enjoy Daffodil Hill in 2015.