ENTERTAINMENT CAMI L LA BAS S E T T - SMI TH
THROUGH THE GARDEN GATE THE DAFFODIL: CHEERFUL AND COMFORTING
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This month our television horticulturist, Camilla Bassett- Smith, sings the delights of her favourite spring classic.
The daffodil: cheerful, confident and a comforting constant in our lives. My favourite flower and one for which Gloucestershire is well known for calling home. With over 25,000 different cultivars worldwide, there really is a wealth of bulbous wonder to explore. Let us concentrate on our native local first – Narcissus pseudonarcissus often referred to as The Lent Lily, for she is calling you to pay her a visit this March!
The Daffodil Triangle in Gloucestershire, near the Herefordshire border, is made up of land between Dymock, Kempley and Oxenhall and our wild daffodils can be seen in fields and woodland along an 8 mile circular path or ‘Daffodil Way’ which winds alongside these springtime treasures. Visit Kempley on the 18th or 19th March, and you can join the celebrations of their annual Daffodil Weekend with guided walks and minibus rides to the main sites, with warming food and drinks also on offer. Step back prior to 1959 and you could have ridden ‘The Daffodil Line’ on the Ledbury and Gloucester Railway, taking in the glorious golden carpet from the comfort of your carriage!
However, on foot these days allows you a much more up close and personal botanical experience. These same daffodils are the ones of Wordsworth fame wandering lonely as a cloud up in Cumbria. Move west and we meet the Tenby daffodil or Narcissus obvallaris – growing naturally in Wales and truly at home amongst a nation of daffodil lovers!
A yellow trumpet we all recognise, but many other colours are represented in the thousands of creations breeders have
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presented to the market over the years. The first pink trumpet was introduced in the 1920s and paved the way for this delicate pastel to creep into daffodil corollas (cups) everywhere! A particular favourite of mine being ‘Lilac Charm’, introduced towards the end of the 20th century, a miniature with sheer sophistication, perfect for any border. I’m also selfishly fond of ‘Camilla Clara Kate’, named after me by Irish breeder and Daffodil Stalwart Brian Duncan, I hope she proves long lasting and blemish free!
With 13 different divisions into which daffodils are placed, there is something for everyone – from double division 4s which look more like peonies to the sweetly scented division 8s or tazettas. I have a particular soft spot for Narcissus ‘Mary Copeland’ – a heritage double from the early 1900s, much lighter than the heavy doubles of today, with a beautiful fragrance – introduced to me by a dear neighbour, Sue Cresswell, at her Charlton Kings home in the 1990s.
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