One man’s passion
In the latter part of the 19th century, a country clergyman, the Rev G Engleheart, began breeding daffodils. The more than 700 beautifully simple cultivars he raised now form a unique National Collection split across six different holders
No service today, working with daffodils’ was a note that Reverend George Herbert Engleheart (1851-1936) would often tack to the church door before returning to his garden to breed daffodils. And what daffodils they are: ‘Bath Flame’, ‘Helios’, ‘Lady Margaret Boswell’, ‘White Lady’, ‘Seagull’, the list goes on and on. Over 40 years he developed more than 700 cultivars, many of which, by the early 1900s, graced gardens here and abroad in their millions.
Engleheart was in some ways a typical late Victorian gentleman-clergyman; at the time it was quite acceptable to pursue other scholarly interests between sermons and parish duties. He was a gifted linguist, wrote verse and was passionate about archaeology. But it was not until he landed a curacy in Hampshire in 1881 that he developed his passion for horticulture and with that a fascination with narcissus breeding. He had quite the eye for it. His daffodils are typified by a simple elegance, a ruffle here, a fill there, a twist to perianth or a nod of the head.
“They are quite amazing these old narcissi, perhaps because they have fewer chromosomes than modern varieties; they are more simplistic and beautiful,” says Anne Tweddle, one of holders of National Collection of Engleheart Daffodils. The Engleheart Collection is just five years old and unusually is a disperse collection, meaning that there is more than one collection holder and location for these historic plants. By being part of a group, individual holders can house the whole collection or just part of it.
Engleheart may have begun breeding narcissi in Hampshire, but it is the Suffolk Group of Plant Heritage that has taken ownership of the collection. “We came at it [the collection] rather sideways,”says Anne, who is the group’s propagation officer. “It’s not that we were dedicated to Engleheart, but that we’d learned how to twin-scale at the monthly propagation meeting of our Plant Heritage group. We decided to raise some rare plants for our twice-yearly plant sales. What you start to notice with rare daffodils is that Engleheart’s name is attached to many of them. And these plants were very popular; they bulk up well and people really like that.
I’d never contemplated a national collection – I didn’t think I was nerdy enough – and it seemed a lot of work. But then I heard about the disperse collection and these things keep coming back at you.”
Currently, the collection is dispersed among six holders, and Anne believes the continuity of the collection benefits from having several keepers. “As a group we’ve blossomed in our ability to research the provenance and historical aspects of the collection, to read and write daffodil descriptions and widen our garden knowledge”, says Anne. The scattered grouping means the daffodils are grown in a range of conditions, some housed entirely in pots or in small gardens, others roaming the grounds around moats.
The collection currently houses 34 known cultivars and there is much detective work still to be done to find other lost Engleheart bulbs. “There are quite a few in America and we’ve made contact with the US Daffodil Society,” says Anne. “There’s also the connection to plantswoman Ellen Willmott and her garden at Warley Place in Essex.” Willmott hugely admired Engleheart’s work and they become close friends. Her support was invaluable. “He didn’t have very good growing conditions at the beginning of his breeding career, and she had money and the most superb loam to grow in,” says Anne.
Engleheart eventually made enough money to move in 1901 to Little Clarendon, in Wiltshire, where he had 27 acres for his daffodils. “He seems to have known instinctively what would work in a daffodil. You have to remember it would have taken 12-13 years back then for a cross to seed and flower to a size to prove a theory. He had great patience,” says Anne.
Kate Elliot, head gardener at the magnificent 14thcentury Columbine Hall, which houses the bulk of the collection has quite fallen for them. “Engleheart’s daffodils are smaller than modern ones and more delicate. It’s wonderful to help preserve a historical collection,” she says. They are very garden-worthy plants and are bulking up nicely, despite only having been in the ground for a couple of years. “We have very good garden loam, but there’s also some clay, so I add a handful of grit to the bottom of each planting hole to add drainage,” says Kate. yes.
Engleheart’s daffodils are largely crosses between
N. poeticus and the trumpet sort. “Poeticus come from damp meadows, and the trumpets tolerate quite a bit of shade, so they are a good cross in that way, but they must not dry out when they are first putting their roots down in August and September,” says Anne. “Often this is the reason why they go blind [don’t flower]. But equally they can’t be waterlogged over the winter. They they want good garden loam, good drainage and some sun.”
Columbine Hall has a number of orchards and large areas of meadows where Kate has planted up drifts of daffodils.“It’s a very romantic garden and these beautiful plants are really suited to informal settings,” says Kate. Thanks to Plant Heritage and the Engleheart collection holders, we can also enjoy that beauty.
USEFUL INFORMATION
Address Columbine Hall, Stowupland,
Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 4AT. Tel 01449 612219.
Website columbinehall.co.uk Open Most years the garden opens by appointment for large groups and for an open day in April. See website for details.
Find out more about the National Collection of Engleheart Daffodils at suffolkplantheritage.com/ national-collections/narcissus
They are quite amazing perhaps because they have fewer chromosomes than modern varieties; they are more simplistic and beautiful