Meet the 88-year-old who gives daffodils away to neighbours and friends

James O'Halloran used to sell the thousands of daffodils growing in a field on his farm – now he gives them away to neighbours and friends

James O'Halloran in his daffodil field in Kilcraggan, Co Kilkenny. 

The village of Mooncoin in South Kilkenny might be known for the rose, but in the townland of Kilcraggan, it is the daffodil that reigns supreme.

In the field at the front of O’Halloran’s farmhouse, the family decided to use the land unconventionally.

In 1968, James O’Halloran made a trip to Waterford City, where he surprised even the shop owners with his purchase.

“I went into Harper’s on The Quay and I bought 300 weight of bulbs. They cost me a penny-ha’penny each and it came to £30,” he said.

“I set them out and over the years replanted them until I got the whole haggard field outside filled with daffodils.

“I remember at the time they said they had never sold that many bulbs to anyone else,” Mr O’Halloran said.

Neighbours and friends come to the field in the springtime to pick a bunch for free.

It is hard to tell at the moment how many daffodils are in the field, but he reckons at one stage there were 12,000.

“One year I sold £700 worth of flowers, which was an awful lot of money at that time. Delaney’s Florist on O’Connell Street in Waterford was my customer.” 

As the daffodil industry grew, he decided to stop selling the spring flowers.

“They started growing them in tunnels and I didn’t have them early enough for the florist shops so I packed up my daffodils and never sold another flower,” he said.

Mr O’Halloran’s decision means neighbours and friends come to the field in the springtime to pick a bunch for free.

James O'Halloran: 'One year I sold £700 worth of flowers, which was an awful lot of money at that time.'

“It’s my mother who was the first person to plant the flowers in the field but I increased them and introduced the different varieties.

“She had apple trees and trees out there too and had one outside with seven or eight different kinds of apples on it,” he said.

Next week Mr O'Halloran will turn 89, but this week he has a few other things to do. 

Neighbour John Smith was collecting him for his second dose of the Covid vaccine this week.

“Sure look, the last one didn’t do me any harm anyway,” he said.