Skagit Valley Daffodils: Where to Find Them + Festival Facts!

Daffodils are one of the first flowers of spring, and after a long, cold winter their bright yellow petals remind us of warmer days to come with sunshine and summer cocktails!

In April, most people visit the Skagit Valley for the annual tulip festival, but many don’t realize that in March the first flowers to arrive in the Skagit Valley are fields of bright yellow daffodils.

And, unlike the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival seeing the flowers is less crowded (very important in the 2021 context — much easier for social distancing!) and best of all, it’s entirely free!

How to See the Skagit Valley Daffodils

Rows of brilliant yellow daffodils at a Skagit Valley daffodil farm with a mountain the background
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1. Plan your Skagit Valley Daffodil experience ahead of time.

Before making any trip to see the flowering fields in the Skagit Valley, check out the RoozenGaarde Bloom Map.

This useful map is essential to locating the fields that are in bloom!

2. Know what daffodils you want to see.

For daffodils, there are three main varieties; Flower Carpet, Dutch Master, and Standard Value.

You’ll find all of these in the beautiful daffodil fields of Skagit Valley!

3. Know where to find the daffodils in Skagit Valley.

Unlike the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, there are no daffodil fields or display gardens at Roozengaarde or Tulip Town to walk through.

What you can do is view the fields along the side of the road, or walk up next to a field full of Skagit Valley daffodils!

Out of respect to the grower, don’t walk far into the field (only a foot or so) and do not trample any daffodils — no, not even for the ‘gram.

What to Bring to Look for Daffodils in Skagit Valley

Fields full of brilliant yellow daffodils in Skagit Valley, with a farm house in front of several snow-covered mountains.

Don’t forget to bring a rain jacket, rain boots, sunglasses, and a camera. March is a wet, rainy season in the PNW!

If you take photos and post them on Facebook with the hashtag #LaConnerDaffodils!

Why? The winner receives a cash prize, and the winning photo will be used to promote the next year’s festival.

Bonus: Snow Geese!

A flock of hundreds of white snow geese contrasting with a field of yellow daffodils and green grass.

Another neat thing about visiting the Skagit Valley in March is that you’ll see flocks of snow geese. 

Around 55,000 snow geese spend the winter here, along with 10,000 Tundra and Trumpeter swans!

When the white birds and the brilliant daffodils are side by side, the pure white against the vibrant yellow makes for quite a dramatic setting. I mean, those photos speak for themselves!

La Conner Daffodil Festival

Close up of white and yellow daffodils in La Conner with a blurry backgound of farmhouses and snow-covered mountains in the distance.

If you are looking for spring activities in the area, you can see explore what is going on in La Conner. 

A popular daffodil event is the Annual Dandy Daffodil Tweed Ride, a leisurely ride next to the fields in your finest tweed!

If you are driving through the valley, some favorite stops are Snow Good Produce and Schuh Farms for ice cream, shakes and locally grown vegetables, and Glacier Peak Winery and Tulip Valley Winery for wine tastings.

Why Visit La Conner for Daffodils in Washington State?

Several rows of daffodil plants in front of barns and other small houses in Washington State's Skagit valley, the best place for daffodils in Washington State.

One of the best reasons to visit La Conner specifically for its Daffodil Festival is that the daffodils look absolutely stunning against the town’s backdrop of scenic Mt. Baker. Nothing says spring in Washington State like brilliant yellow daffodils contrasting with a snow-capped mountainโ€ฆ except Seattle’s iconic cherry blossoms, perhaps.

Skagit County might as well be the spring flower capital of America: more flower bulbs for tulips, irises, and daffodils are produced in Skagit County than any other United States county — pretty remarkable!

In fact, you may not know it based on how much press the Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley gets, but daffodils actually outnumber tulip fields when it comes to most major producers in the region! RoozenGaarde, one of the largest growers, maintains 450 acres of daffodils annually, whereas it only grows 350 acres of tulip fields!

Another fun fact is that tulips are rotated yearly and daffodils are only rotated on the third year. The colors of the daffodils correlate to how old the crops are. 3-year-old fields will be a brilliant yellow, whereas younger fields will be a pale white or soft butter yellow.

Where to Stay for Skagit Valley Daffodils

A brilliant orange-yellow field of daffodils in front of a bright red and green farm house with Mt Shuksan covered in snow in the background in spring.

To extend your trip so you can see more of the daffodils in Skagit Valley, I suggest you stay in the quaint small town of La Conner!

It is a great choice for a home base and very close to the daffodil fields in Skagit Valley.

You’ll find plenty of restaurants to choose from as well as shopping, a waterfront boardwalk, wine tastings rooms, and museums.

La Conner Accommodation Recommendations:

Where to Eat in La Conner

La Conner has a tasty food scene for such a small town in Skagit Valley! In between all those daffodil sightings, you may work up an appetite. Here are my four favorite tried-and-tasted places to eat in La Conner.

Note that for 2021 you may want to call ahead and see how they are doing their dining and if they are open.

  • Nell Thorn Waterfront Bistro
  • Oyster & Thistle Restaurant
  • Whitey’s BBQ
  • La Conner Brewery

Click here to read more about the town of La Conner!

~Pin This Guide to Skagit Valley Daffodils + the La Conner Daffodil Festival!


25 thoughts on “Skagit Valley Daffodils: Where to Find Them + Festival Facts!”

  1. I’ve never made a trip to see daffodils and it’s something I should do! The fields are so pretty and it would be amazing to catch the snow geese in March ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Such beautiful photos – and the video also! I’ve never made it to see the spring flowers in Washington – but I sure would love to!

  3. Daffodils are so lovely! Reminds me of Ranunculus fields in California. Thank you for the recommendation on where to stay for the trip as well.

  4. Wow the daffodil fields look so pretty! Especially with all the snow geese flying low over the fields. We’ve never seen such a landscape here in Europe. Next time we travel to the USA we’ll definitely consider exploring Washington State as well.

    • Mei and Kerstin, It is a beautiful sight to see the two together. I hope your travels take you to Washington State soon, and in spring!

  5. I just love flowers especially Daffodils and Daffodils fields in the Skagit Valley are just wow in these pictures. I am aware if there is anything like this in the UK which would be cool to see. Those flocks of snow geese of the Daffodil fields look great as well and it’s insane to think there is 55,000 of them.

    • Mel, It is quite a sight! The bright yellow is such a happy color after a long rainy winter. ๐Ÿ™‚ I hope you find some flowering fields in the UK to see! ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. My God… We have plenty of daffodils growing on the side of the road in the UK but nothing like this ocean of yellow. How mesmerising!

  7. I have been to Keukenhof and the family farm in Ohio has over 1000 daffodils planted around the house. I could really see coming here with mom. We wouldn’t have windmills but the snow geese and mountain backdrops more than make up for it.

    • Jenn and Ed, The snow geese and mountains make for quite a backdrop, don’t they? I hope you get to visit Washington in March and see the fields.

  8. How great to see those beautiful daffodils. They are definitely a spring indicator for me. Good to know that they bloom in March in the Skagit Valley. We are always looking for those places that show us that spring is coming. Thanks for the link to the bloom map. We used a similar site when we planned our visit to Washington DC for cherry blossoms. Our ornithologist daughter would want to come to see those snow geese!

    • Linda, That’s great they have a bloom map for the cherry blossoms in DC. I’d love to see those. Your daughter would also like the swans and eagles!

  9. It is normally tulip or lavender fields. I have not seen daffodil fields before and you have now peaked my interest! It is usually the first spring flower, the bright yellow canโ€™t make one feel happy! Sounds like a wonderful place to visit when in the Washington area.

    • Renee, Yellow is such a moving color of the long dark days of winter. I hope you get a chance to see a field of daffs one day!

  10. I’m used to seeing daffodils pop up here and there but I’ve never seen an entire field of them. I’d love to visit in spring.

  11. There’s a daffodil festival too?? In addition to the tulips? You guys definitely have it going on up there. I’m glad to find out this before I visited because currently I only have the tulips on my list. I would love to see the daffodils and the snow geese too!

    • Heather, I know you’ve been planning on visit Washington sometime and I’m so glad you read this. The daffodils are really beautiful and since there is no organized viewing like there is with the tulips, it often falls off the radar, but just as lovely.

  12. I absolutely adore going to local floral festivals and this daffodil festival sounds like a perfect way to spend an afternoon! Your photos really captured the scenery, I especially love the one with the sunset over the yellow blossoms. You always have the best insider information of the PNW!

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