A Brief History of Daffodils - Page 2
© Pictures by Sandra Stewart
The golden age of daffodils occurred around 1900 and for the next few years up to the present the multiplication has continued. It was somewhere in this early period that the very popular 'King Alfred' daffodil was introduced along with thousands more. The numbers of garden hybrid daffodils went from the hundreds to the thousands, and by last count over 26,000 varieties. The present day daffodils still include many of the older historic daffodils, or heirloom daffodils that Scott talked about in Annapolis.
Historic Daffodils
The American Daffodil Society defines historic daffodils as daffodils that were introduced before 1940. Species Narcissus is not included in the definition of historic daffodils, as they are defined as what they are, a species. Historic daffodils make great garden daffodils, are very hardy and show off with some interesting colors and increase well. But how do we know they are hardy? To answer, they have survived a long time and that is testimony enough about these old daffodils staying power.
When I first started growing daffodils for show and grow, I didn't want any daffodils in by garden that were not show worthy. I've since learned that some flowers can put on a private show just for you in your own garden without being taken to a show. With that realization, I now have collected a large number of historic daffodils that I plant for my own pleasure and never show, even when the American Daffodil Society has added a show category of "historic daffodils." I just like the beauty, and have them in my garden for me.
I want to thank Scott for the assistance over the years to get me to appreciate the heirloom plants, and historic daffodils. The gardening knowledge and the historic daffodil's beauty have enriched me.
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