by Elizabeth Spence
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in the UK has recently been asking for help in finding rare and missing daffodils that are at risk of being lost to history and science. This is in connection with their “Daffodil Diaries” project which aims to map and record daffodils in the UK.
After Jennifer and I recently spoke to Gwen Locke of New Annan about how she is still growing plants brought over 200 years ago by her ancestors, it occurred to us that these daffodils might be lurking somewhere in Nova Scotia gardens.
If you happen to have any of these daffodils growing here, please let us know and we will forward the information to the RHS.
Even though they are aiming the search at people in the UK, we think they might be interested to find out that some of these old daffs are still alive and kicking in the colonies.
The daffodils the RHS are looking for are:
- Mrs. R.O. Backhouse, which was one of the first pink daffodils to be bred in 1923
2. Mrs. William Copeland
3. Sussex Bonfire that apparently hasn’t been seen since 1998. This is supposed to be the only picture of it.
February, 2025