Daffodils English garden in NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

Daffodils English garden struck

The humble sunny narcissus has captivated poets and plantsmen for centuries, especially the fine heritage varieties found in this old priory English garden

On seeing a mass of daffodils while out walking with her brother William, Dorothy Wordsworth wrote: ‘I never saw daffodils so beautiful…some rested their heads upon the stones as on a pillow for weariness, and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them.’ Later, this diary entry would inspire her brother to pen some immortal words.

The flower she is referring to is Narcissus pseudonarcissus, a wild daffodil that is far removed in appearance from the common modern hybrids planted on roundabouts and roadsides. This daffodils is more refined, more beautiful and paler in colour, but its main difference is its movement. The joy of an old daffodil is, as
Dorothy describes, its ability to ‘dance’, so that planted en masse, it is magical.

The heritage daffodils of Felley nodding gently in the breeze.

At the beginning of the last century, when daffodils were particularly fashionable, this was how people planted them, in large groups of carefully chosen varieties. In The Book of the Daffodil (printed in 1903),
readers are urged to grow ‘a well-chosen collection’ that would have included wild daffodils and hybrids.

The daffodil orchard at Felley Priory in Nottinghamshire is one the country’s finest examples of such a collection - a living museum and an homage to that period in horticulture. The English garden is a tranquil spot, with the delicate narcissus perfume held in the air by the old orchard walls, and the daffodils nodding and swaying in the breeze. Daffodil collections were often planted in orchards - they look good in long grass and thrive in open positions or dappled shade, so an orchard or meadow is the perfect place for them.

The history of the Felley orchard is a mystery. Though the English garden there was established in 1976 by the late Maria Chaworth Musters, there is no record of who created the orchard or what exactly was planted there. It is thought that it was done in the 1920s and it is highly regarded for its selection of cultivars.
The Priory itself was founded in 1156, but heavily damaged during the Dissolution in 1535. The pillars at the entrance to the English garden were originally part of the church and date from the 12th century. Now a private residence, the house is not open to the public, but the garden and nursery are. They have been
delighting visitors for at least 30 years, and are now run by Michelle Upchurch and two other full-time gardeners. There’s something for visitors in every season of this beautiful English garden - roses and perennials in summer, great autumn colour, winter evergreens with masses of snowdrops and hellebores, and the stunning springtime display of old-fashioned narcissus in the orchard.

Narcissus ‘Hospodar’ spreads happily, so it’s a great bulb to plant if you want to naturalise an area. Narcissus ‘Lucifer’ has a delicate stance, moving gracefully in the wind; it also naturalises well. 

‘These daffodils are fine flowers,’ says Sally Kington, a former International Daffodil Registrar who has studied Felley’s blooms. ‘It’s clear they were carefully chosen for their smart flower shapes and colours, as well as their ability to naturalise, which they’ve done very well. The effect is of sophisticated plants running

wild, which is very fetching. It is a special collection.’ The Felley daffodils are also a product of the Victorian fashion for daffodil breeding. From the 1840s, people hybridised wild daffodils to create a series of new cultivars. These cultivars were given fancy names (as opposed to botanical Latin names) for the first time, and a catalogue of them was published in 1884, starting a craze for daffodils.

The Felley daffodils were bred at the start of this craze - they are the offspring of the cultivars in the 1884 catalogue. But whereas the first cultivars were similar in floppy appearance to the wild daffodils, their
descendants have slightly stiffer petals and stronger colours. Although not widely available, this generation of daffodil is arguably the most beautiful. A lot of the cultivars produced afterwards were too stiff and too large to produce the dancing movement that Dorothy wrote about.

Since there are so many daffodils varieties available - more than 26,000 to date - the RHS is loathe to make definite identifications in old collections, such as the one at Felley. ‘I think that the native Lent Lily (Narcissus
pseudonarcissus) grows there, as well as the ancient ‘Telamonius Plenus’ (‘Van Sion’) and a series of old
varieties, most of which I wouldn’t try to identify,’ says Sally. However, we can estimate what these varieties are, or suggest similar daffodils from that era that spread well. ‘There are some daffodils available from the Felley era that are particularly quick to naturalise,’ says Ron Scamp, holder of an International Collection of
Narcissus, and owner of the Quality Daffodils nursery in Cornwall. ‘You can rely on these cultivars to multiply in an area such as an orchard.’

It’s certain that the dreamy primrose yellow daffodil ‘Bath’s Flame’ (from 1913) grows in abundance at Felley, but some of the flowers flourishing alongside it are still a mystery. It’s thought that the white-petalled cultivars ‘Croesus’ (1912), ‘Lucifer’ (1900) and ‘Beersheba’ (1923) are among them, but there are some Felley daffodils that are so unique, it’s possible they are natural hybrids - the offspring of the daffodils growing around them.

They are, as Dorothy Wordsworth noted, easy to fall in love with - dainty and alive, dancers on the breeze.

English garden

Felley Priory, Underwood, Nottinghamshire NG16 5FJ.
English garden open all year round, Tues-Fri, 9am-4pm. From Feb to Sept, also open every first and third Sunday, 10am-4pm.

Daffodil Day for the NGS on the third Sunday in April, 10am-4pm.
Tel: +44 (0)7763 189771. Plants including old daffodil varieties are on sale at Felley all year round.

DAFFODIL-GROWING TIPS FROM MICHELLE UPCHURCH

• Plant spring bulbs in free-draining but moisture-retentive soil in autumn.
•  If you have clay, it’s vital to break up the soil of the hole you’ve made (ideally with a bulb planter) and add some grit to it.
• A slight breeze is ideal for spring bulbs, but don’t plant the daffofils in an exceptionally windy spot.
• Try not to walk on the daffodils as they’re coming up at the end of winter, and once they have finished flowering, wait 10 weeks before mowing the grass.
• It’s tempting to chop off the daffodils leaves once flowering is over, but let the foliage die back naturally. This allows the leaves to produce the energy to form the following year’s flowers.

CONTACTS OTHER DAFFODIL ENGLISH GARDENS TO VISIT

Coughton Court English gardens,Throchmorton Estates, Coughton Court, Alcester,Warks B49 5JA.Tel:

+ 44 (0)1789 762435. 

Guy L.Wilson Daffodil Garden Rare collection of 400 Irish-bred daffodils and narcissus, in full bloom mid-April. University of Ulster, Coleraine BT52 1.Tel: +44 (0)28 7032 4431.

Savill English Garden,Wick Lane, Englefield Green, Surrey TW20 0UU. Tel: +44 (0)1753 860222.

WHERETO BUY DAFFODILS

Alternatively, you can post three first-class stamps and your address to:

R.A. Scamp, Quality Daffodils, 14 Roscarrack

Close, Falmouth, Cornwall TR11 4PJ, and Ron Scamp will send you a free catalogue.

PHOTOGRAPHS RICHARD BLOOM WORDS HAZEL SILLVER