96 the english garden February 2013 Ron Scamp (right) grows daffodils with his son Adrian (left) on a 12-acre site in Cornwall.
The daffodil ‘reigns in supreme majesty over all spring flowers’, and the popularity it enjoys today ‘is the inheritance of centuries’. Thus wrote daffodil expert Michael Jefferson-Brown at the beginning of his 1969 book Daffodils and Narcissi, a work of great scholarship that continues to benefit professional and amateur gardeners alike. Among others, E. A. Bowles also wrote extensively and lovingly about the genus, adding weight and meaning to the copious poetic lines that have extolled this universally loved ‘golden flower’ in Western literature. Ron Scamp’s name came my way several years ago in discussion with Sally Kington, the Royal Horticultural Society’s then daffodil registrar. My northwest corner of Herefordshire experienced some daffodil fame in Edwardian times, a legacy that encouraged Sally to come and look around, and give a talk to a group of fellow enthusiasts at a moment, a few years ago, when I was considering a chronological planting of species and cultivars in my infant arboretum. Ron Scamp, she assured me, would be most helpful in my venture. Sadly, the idea came to naught, although a heap of bulb catalogues and internet printouts in a corner of my study testify to my occasional researches into suitable old varieties. Ron, whose family grew daffodils for the bulb and cut-flower trade professionally in the Tamar Valley, is a Cornishman with his own long-held interest in the genus narcissus. His uncle and mentor was Dan du Plessis; one of four dynamic Cornish growers who, according to Andrew Tompsett - author of Golden Harvest, a fascinating and detailed history of daffodil growing in Cornwall - had an irrepressible interest in daffodils in the second half of the 20th century. Ron was a lifelong amateur, only turning his hobby into a business in 1991. Now approaching his 70th birthday, he is ‘winding down’, and his son Adrian will continue the business that currently raises stock on a 12-acre site near Falmouth. Ron grows daffodils in all 13 divisions - trumpet, double, largecupped etc - classified by the Royal Horticultural Society. He has a great passion for what he calls ‘yesterday’s daffodils’, the historical varieties, currently listing almost 50 of them, including personal favourite ‘White Lady’, bred before 1898, which is a small-cupped cultivar with white petals and a shallow pale-yellow trumpet. Old varieties, some of which may be natural hybrids, still continue to be found, and the happy hunting grounds are usually undisturbed hedgerows, churchyards and old family estates. Their names may be lost, but can sometimes be reinstated with careful research. When it comes to breeding new varieties, Ron (recipient of the Reginald Cory Cup for plant hybridisation and ‘still dabbling a bit with pollen’) aims for plants with strength, vigour and good form that are both disease and weather resistant. He largely avoids the use of old varieties in his breeding programme, believing there isn’t much that could be considered new that hasn’t already emerged in previous crosses. A new variety can take up to 10 years from seed to commercial introduction. Four to five years are needed for the seed to develop a flowering-sized bulb, which then needs to Of his many daffodil-breeding successes, Ron is most proud of double-flowered ‘Madam Speaker’ hort’s desire: daffodils SPARKLING SIRENS OF SPRING David Wheeler meets a man who has turned a lifelong love of daffodils into an award-winning online business PHOTOGRAPH JASON INGRAM be grown on for several years to see permanence of habit and colour. Chosen newcomers then go into production. The yield can as much as double every year. Of his many daffodil-breeding successes, Ron is most proud of double-flowered ‘Madam Speaker’, named after Betty Boothroyd, speaker in the House of Commons from 1992 to 2000. He describes it as being ‘as robust as the lady, stands up well to the elements and admired by all who see it; and a first-rate flower of show quality’. The future? ‘My dream daffodil would have white petals and a truly red cup,’ he says. ‘I’m almost there, having one with white petals and dark pink cup; but dark pink is not red. I’m also interested in green-flowered daffodils or ones with white petals and dark green cups or trumpets.’ Time will tell… Finally, and looking for a few good names to add to my own modest collection, Ron unhesitatingly rattles off ‘Max’, ‘Cape Cornwall’ and ‘Menehay’ - names to remember when his 2013 catalogue goes online. R. A. Scamp Quality Daffodils sells bulbs by mail order. For more details and to order, go to www.qualitydaffodils.com or call +44 (0)1326 317959. February 2013 the english garden 97
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