Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum opens its stone and wrought-iron front gate for the season at 10 a.m. this Saturday, March 30, welcoming visitors for the first time this year. Though the recent cold weather has not fully cooperated with the arrival of spring on the calendar, Blithewold should have more pop than visitors are used to.

Last November, Blithewold volunteers, museum operations staff, the Bristol Garden Club, and the seventh-graders of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Bristol joined Blithewold’s horticulture staff in planting 40,000 additional daffodil bulbs.

“This spring we’ll have more than 100,000 daffodils, 93 varieties, that represent all thirteen divisions! While we were at it, we planted 15,000 other early spring bulbs. These combined plantings should provide our visitors with an eight to 10-week display of spring flowers across Blithewold’s 33-acre seaside estate,” said Director of Horticulture Dan Christina.

Though the grounds open for the year this weekend, the biggest celebration of the season is Blithewold’s annual Daffodil Days, which will kick off on April 13, in coordination with school vacation week.