The (BIG) bulb show to be held on Thursday 19th March at Birnam Arts alongside a talk by Andrew Thomson of Backhouse Rossie. He will describe the development of the astonishing daffodils developed over the years. Followed by teas, coffee and (of course!) delicious traybakes.
Many of us probably have Backhouse daffodils in our garden – even if we are unaware of their name, The picture is of the Rossie garden in spring. The Backhouse family’s interest in daffodils goes back a long way.
William Backhouse (I) (1779-1844), was a botanist of some note, with a plant collection of significance, but it was his on William born in 1807 who was the first of the Backhouse daffodil-breeding dynasty.
William Backhouse (II) (1807–1869), worked in the family bank but his greatest legacy were the daffodils he raised which changed daffodil breeding in this country forever.
Among the many cultivars William raised three are of particular importance: N.‘Emperor’ and N.‘Empress’ being two of the first known triploid daffodil cultivars raised in this country (21 chromosomes) and N.‘Weardale Perfection’ the first known tetraploid cultivar (28 chromosomes). Such is the importance of these daffodils, they still form the basis of many daffodils we enjoy in commerce today. So influential was William’s contribution, that the Royal Horticulturalists Society named a section of Daffodils under the Title ‘Section Backhouseii’.
The historic garden at Rossie is well worth a visit, but this time Andrew Thomson will bring the garden to us. All welcome.