Article 2HE24 Old-fashioned narcissi are part of the fabric of the woodland

Old-fashioned narcissi are part of the fabric of the woodland

by
Virginia Spiers
from on (#2HE24)

St Dominic, Tamar Valley The hardier bulbs have naturalised and merged with bluebells, ferns, dog's mercury and moschatel, shaded by scrub and trees

Lucifer, Sunrise, Croesus and Bernardino, narcissi with orange cups and creamy-white petals, should be at their best but hail and wind have battered these successors to the yellow-trumpeted daffodils. Bath's Flame, on a taller stem with spreading lemon-yellow petals and scarlet-rimmed centre, is also spoilt, part-eaten by snails and little slugs.

Here, on this historic market garden, about 20 old-fashioned varieties have been identified, still growing in their original patches and rows in woodland and, occasionally, cut grass; a tithe map from the 1840s shows the land as orchard, so the oldest sorts, Princeps and Van Sion, could date from then.

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