Sunny yellow daffodils are the archetypal symbol of spring: heralding an end to the cold weather.
Unfortunately, we suspect any real daffodils popping their heads out for a look might take their blooms back to bed for another couple of months.
Luckily, Rupert Sanderson defied the elements last night, hosting his Spring Has Sprung party, alongside Mariella Frostrup, at his Mayfair flagship store.
He presented a sculpture shaped like an enormous shoe comprising 1,500 individual daffodils of 100 different types, provided by artisan breeders R. A. Scamp. I met the Scamps two years ago at the RHS Great London Plant Fair and I was blown away by that season's crop. The plan was hatched there!
The sculpture was a nod to the fact that every Rupert Sanderson shoe is named after a daffodil; the designer has long been entranced by the flower: The truth is a little book containing 24,000 daffodil names was my lightbulb moment. The more Ive looked into this, the more fascinating the lovely daffodil is.
Guests including Margo Stilley, Jade Parfitt, and Jasmine Guinness, sipped champagne and pretended it wasnt stormy and sleeting outside.
As the old saying goes, the antidote to a never-ending winter is always an enormous shoe made from flowers.
