UPDATE: We’ve confirmed this event is not happening in 2024. We hope it will return in 2025!
There is no surer sign of spring. It doesn’t matter what the calendar says, or when the planets align, or how low the mercury goes. Don’t listen to the weatherman — listen to me. I’m here to tell you that when you see daffodils everywhere in Atlanta, spring is here.
We think of Oakland Cemetery’s annual Daffodil Day as the event that kicks off Atlanta’s spring festival season. It is usually structured as a charming, one-day festival takes place annually in late February.
The event is FREE and open to the public. There are more than 70 different varieties of daffodils that bloom throughout the season.
Be sure to watch our video from the 2019 Daffodil Day!
NOTE: There will NOT be a Daffodil Day celebration in 2024.
However, you can visit on a day Oakland is open to the public to see the daffodils in all their glory.
Also, we have a huge list of parks, gardens, wildflower trails, etc. where you can see spring flowers in metro Atlanta.
Check out our complete guide to all the spring festivals this year in Atlanta & suburbs!
You may also be interested in:
- Groupon offers half off Valentine’s Day flowers and treats
- See 20 million daffodils at Gibbs Gardens
- Guide to Atlanta spring festivals in 2024
- Free things to do this week
- Explore the nature trail at Murphey Candler Park
The daffodils at Oakland Cemetery
You’re invited to celebrate the (hopefully) warmer weather and the arrival of daffodils by spending some time in Oakland Cemetery’s historic Victorian gardens, at your own leisure, any day of the week.
Oakland is home to dozens of varieties of historic daffodils, many of them “rescued” from old farmlands as development spread. You’ll see the golden trumpets you’re familiar with, but also small-cupped daffodils, frilly double cupped varieties, and drifts of tiny jonquils.
Because there are early, mid-season, and late blooming varieties, daffodil season lasts three full weeks — so if you can’t come for the one-day Daffodil Days festival, put Oakland on your calendar for any day in March.
Daffodil Day is one of the earliest spring festivals in Atlanta. It is free at historic Oakland Cemetery.
Browse the photo gallery
Because, daffodils.
(Did we mention there is no surer sign of spring?)
About the venue
Historic Oakland Cemetery is Atlanta’s oldest public park, and the final resting place for many notable citizens — including author Margaret Mitchell, former Atlanta mayors Maynard Jackson and Ivan Allen, sports legend Bobby Jones, and Civil War soldiers.
Less than a mile from downtown Atlanta, Oakland’s 48 acres are a treasure trove of history, gardens, sculpture, architecture, and ancient oaks and magnolias.
Oakland Cemetery is home to over 1400 trees, some of them nearly 200 years old. Many reflect Victorian symbolism, including those with a “weeping” form or tall columnar shape that points toward heaven.
