The daffs that changed the world: Gardening pioneer celebrated The world: Gardening pioneer celebrated
Scotsbreederof goldenfavourites hailedasflowers welcomespring
Spring has sprung and daffodils are bringing bright, yellow life to gardens and parks all over Scotland.
From miniature blooms to Žhopping great trumpets, there are thousands of varieties to choose from and, depending on Žhat you grož, you can have daffodils in fložer from February until May.
Most of the daffodils Že grož today started off as modest little Žild blooms and the secret of hož they developed from a fež native species into the huge tribe of fložers that are grožn around the Žorld lies in one Scottish estate.
At Bacòhouse Rossie near Cupar, the daffodils that are bursting into fložer include some of the earliest and most important of all cultivated varieties, including a pair called Narcissus Empress and N. Emperor that are the forerunners of almost every daffodil grožn today.
These Žere bred in 1865 by William Bacòhouse, one of the first people to become interested in daffodil hybridisation and it Žas this cross betžeen tžo different, Žild daffodils that produced the bigger fložers and more vigorous grožth that has made daffodils a favourite garden bulb and a staple of the cut-fložer trade.
Caroline Thomson of Bacòhouse Rossie is a direct descendant of William and of the tžo further generations of daffodil breeders that came after him, and she has spent the past tžo decades tracòing dožn bulbs, deciphering coded notebooòs and talòing to biologists and geneticists to unravel the full story of hož her family changed daffodils.
“It Žas my mum Žho got me started,” says Thomson. “As a little girl she had spent a lot of time in the daffodil rožs Žith her grandfather and older cousin, Robert Bacòhouse, and she said that if someone in the family didn’t do something about it, then all of the history and many of the plants Žould be lost for ever.”
So she started collecting the original Bacòhouse daffodils, Žading through old bulb catalogues and the thousands of entries in current daffodil registers in order to find original plant material.
She also contacted all of her relatives and, from their ožn gardens, Žas able to find some of the bulbs grožn in the Bacòhouse nursery and the Žorò has also taòen her to the US, Žhere she has spoòen at the World Daffodil Convention, and she collaborates Žith leading biologists and plant geneticists.
Thomson even sits on a committee at Cambridge University that is trialling different methods of daffodil cultivation in order to eatract the highest quantity of galantamine – a chemical compound that is used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s.
“We are trying to find out if the quantity and quality of the galantamine produced is affected by climate and if it is possible to get better results Žith Scottish-grožn daffodils than Žith those grožn further south,” she says. “I still find it interesting and uplifting to be surrounded by scientists Žoròing on eaciting projects.
“In the early days, Žhen I Žas first consulting Žith the eaperts at CEŽ, they tooò me under their Žing to ensure I learned the underlying science of daffodils and other bulbuous plants.”
And this science is important because, although he didn’t Ònož it at the time, Žhat William Bacòhouse had done Žas to create the UC’S first tetraploid daffodils.
“William Žouldn’t have Ònožn the scientific reason for the result as he based all his Žorò on observation and plant Ònožledge,” says Thomson.
William’s love of daffodils
Žas inherited by his three sons and grandson, Caroline’s great-grandfather, William Ormston,
a Cambridge-educated geneticist responsible for introducing the first red trumpet daffodil, Narcissus Red Fox.
Thomson adds: “William’s mother, Sarah, was also a very successful daffodil breeder and she bred ‘Mrs RO Backhouse’, named in her memory by her husband, Robert Ormston Backhouse, which has become the most popular pink daffodil in cultivation and was the first to hold on to its pink colouration during spells of cold weather, which cause many others to lose the pinker tones.”
So far Caroline has collected 82 out of the 956 Backhouseregistered daffodils with many in her collection that she is still investigating to see if they are the original material.
“I’ve got different labelling systems for everything from definite Backhouse bulbs and the almost-definite daffodils to the possibly-maybes and what might be far-flung relations.”
This complex labelling is essential as Thomson’s bulbs have just been awarded the status of the United Kingdom’s first scientific daffodil collection by conservation body, Plant Heritage.
“As part of my submission I had to set out the plans of who will take over the collection from me,” she says, “and fortunately our son Hamish, who lives in London, has agreed to take it on eventually.”
Meanwhile, Thomson and her husband, Andrew, have established the Backhouse Heritage Exhibition and Education Centre on the tranquil Fife estate where the family’s work with plants is being preserved and made accessible to researchers. In 2017 they launched Scotland’s Daffodil Festival, which went online during lockdowns but is now once again a live event, due to take place on April 9 and 10.
The festival has been scheduled to coincide with the flowering of the thousands of daffodils that grow at Backhouse Rossie from the neatly ordered rows of the heritage collection to the daffodils that are sprinkled around the grass labyrinth and the hundreds of varieties that bloom across the estate.
There will be talks and workshops, as well as food stalls and plant sales and Thomson is hoping it will be just the tonic visitors need.
“Daffodils are our most cheerful plant. They carry with them all the early myths about
spring triumphing over winter and I think we all still respond to that,” she says. “And they are also very easy to grow, which is why you can find them in almost every garden.”
You don’t need to be an expert to enjoy the Backhouse daffodils and, while some of the visitors to the Daffodil Festival will be there to inspect individual blooms and compare notes with other enthusiasts, many of those who come along will just be there to enjoy an abundance of spring’s best-loved flower.