Daffodils are growing quickly and the warmth and the gentle rain of these days help.
Waiting for flowers, I found an old plant catalogue with a promising title: Barr's Descriptive Catalogue of Hardy Daffodils, also a List of Easily Cultivated Hardy Bulbs and Plants, for All Seasons. Dated Autumn 1886, the Catalogue was published by the Barr & Sons Nurseries, founded in Surrey in 1860 with mail order and shop in Covent Garden in London.
The Catalogue has a lyrical opening:
"THE most beautiful of all hardy Spring flowers is the Daffodil; for centuries it has adorned our gardens and withstood uninjured our severest winters. Its blossoms suffer less from frost, snow, rain, and wind, than any other spring flower, and this was observed by Shakespeare, when he wrote-
" Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty."
With a flowering season from January to June, daffodils are perfect for mixed borders and shrubberies, and "to naturalize in woodland walks, and for large groups in grass or on sloping banks,..."and "on the moist margins of lakes and streams, or islands, where their golden nodding flowers contrast with the cerulean reflection in the limpid water below." Poetic verses by Keats and Wordsworth celebrate this beautiful flower.
Then, the Catalogue turns to more practical information with general notes for cultivation in pots indoors and in beds out of doors, as well as offers. A "Selections of inexpensive daffodils... to plant in grass, orchards, woodlands, walks, ..." was sold at the price of 150/ for 1.000 in 30 var., or 120/ in 20 var., or 84/ in 10 var.; or 1.000 "Inexpensive Poeticus to plant in Grass, Orchards,..." in 12 var. for 95s. Daffodils for pot culture were more expensive: 6 "Polyanthus Narcissus each 12 splendid varieties 22 s."
Daffodils are divided into three different groups, (Magni, Medi and Parvi-coronati of Baker) and "to assist amateurs in making their own selections of these hardy and beautiful spring flowers, a number of woodcuts have been supplemented to illustrate each group." A little history is included too, from: "The first systematic arrangement of this family is found in Parkinson's 'Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris; or, A Garden of All Sorts of Pleasant Flowers,' published 1629" to "Baker's review of the genus Narcissus appeared in the Gardeners' Chronicle, 1870."
Pots, flowerbeds and woodland areas did not exhaust the uses of this versatile flower.
"As a cut flower the Daffodil is one of the most prized for ladies' dresses, bouquets, and vases", and the Double Roman Narcissus was perfect "in small bouquets and for buttonholes."
Did Daffodils decorate dresses or dresses were inspired by daffodils?
The Narcissus bulbocodium is called Hoop Petticoat Daffodil, and its flower has the perfect shape of a Victorian hoop skirt. Barr sold 6 bulbs in a 4 or 5 inch pot in charming golden-yellow, pure white, sulphur or rich yellow colours from 2s. for the Large Yellow Hoop Petticoat to 10s for the Small Yellow Hoop Petticoat.
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| Fashion plate, from the Petit Courrier des Dames, July 1855 |
Now it's raining hard again; daffodils are growing.
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| Hoop-petticoat daffodil, Oxford plants |
Barr's Descriptive Catalogue of Hardy Daffodils, also a List of Easily Cultivated Hardy Bulbs and Plants, for All Seasons. Autumn 1886.
http://dafflibrary.org/
Images:
Photo Growing Narcissus -TravelinaGarden, March 2018
All woodcuts from Barr's Catalogue
Daffodils and Tulips in Munstead Glasses, from Flower Decoration in the House, 1907, by Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932)
http://www.edwardianpromenade.com/
Fashion plate, from the Petit Courrier des Dames, July 1855. Corsets & Crinolines in Victorian Fashion, Victoria and Albert Museum.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/
Hoop-petticoat daffodil - Oxford plants
https://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/
