Brodie Castle head gardener David Wheeler, who is extremely enthusiastic about the Brodie daffodil collection, has been trying to reintroduce as many varieties as possible to the castle where they were once commonplace.

A total of 361 varieties were registered in the name of Ian, 24th Brodie of Brodie, many of them his own hybrids, but, over the years many have died out.

Two bulbs of one of the varieties, 'Perth', which was thought to be extinct, were sent to the castle by a New Zealand daffodil expert in 2004, and Mr Wheeler said he was delighted when the bulb finally flowered this year.

Mr John Hunter, of Nelson, New Zealand, is the historian of the National Daffodil Society of New Zealand, and is familiar with the daffodils of Brodie, as his father was a breeder and bought bulbs of the 'Perth' variety during the 1930s.

Mr Hunter, who has exhibited daffodils since 1945, has been hybridising new varieties since 1949, and was awarded the David Bell Gold Medal for the advancement of the daffodil in 1997. He is responsible for re-introducing the lost Brodie daff to the area.

"A few years ago I sent bulbs of 'Perth' back to their home at Brodie Castle," he said. "I had heard that David Wheeler, the head gardener, had been trying to locate the Brodie of Brodie's daffodils to complete their collection."

He also sent a bulb of his own raising, 'Silver Monarch', to be grown with the Brodie collection, as the variety had the Brodies' daffodil, 'Askelon' in its parentage five times.

"We believed the Perth variety to be extinct," said Mr Wheeler, "but Jim Davidson, a daff expert from Banff, visited James Hunter's garden in New Zealand in 2003, and told him that we were looking for this variety."

Mr Wheeler said everyone was delighted when the variety bloomed this year, after re-adjusting to the northern hemisphere, producing delicate buds.

"We received it in spring 2004, and it flowered in August that year," he added, "but it has been lying dormant since then, believing itself to be in the Southern Hemisphere."

The yellow and orange daffodil variety was registered in 1929. It was the 42nd cross of daffodils made by the Brodie in 1924.

Brodie Castle head gardener David Wheeler tends the Perth daffodil which has been returned to the Brodie daffodil collection by a New Zealand breeder and expert. Neil Ellison 01309 674421

"It would appear that the Brodie of Brodie did not market his own daffodils," said Mr Hunter. "Of the 361 varieties that were registered in his name, the majority were sold to three commercial growers to catalogue and put into commerce."

The three firms were Roderick F. Calvert of Coverack, Cornwall; Guy L. Wilson of Broughshane, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and J. Lionel Richardson from Waterford, Southern Ireland.

Mr Hunter said stock of 'Perth' was sold to Richardson's to catalogue and introduce. They took flowers to the Royal Horticultural Society in 1933, where it gained an Award of Merit as an exhibition daffodil, following a unanimous decision by the Narcissus and Tulip Committee.

Bulbs of the variety were then sold and exported to New Zealand, arriving at Alan Gibson's Daffodil Nursery in the mid-1930s. He catalogued 'Perth' in his 1936/7 price list at three pounds ten shillings per bulb.

Mr Hunter said this was a reasonably high price at that time to pay for a daffodil bulb, considering an ounce of gold then sold for just five shillings less, – compared to 662 US dollars today.

"My late Uncle Cook purchased a bulb of 'Perth' from Gibson's in 1937," he said. "Bulbs of this variety were given to me by him in 1949 and have been kept in my collection since then."

He said that despite being 78 years old and superceded as an exhibition flower, 'Perth' was still a good garden variety, early flowering with long stems, vigorous and colourful.

He also claimed that a number of the Brodie of Brodie varieties had been extremely important in the breeding of the modern daffodil.

"Now with the passing of years, the Brodie of Brodie daffodils are becoming more difficult to aquire," he said. "This is only natural, as every great raiser's hybrids gradually become superceded as time goes by, but the importance of the Brodie of Brodie flowers, through their genetics, carries on."

t.mclaren@forres-gazette.co.uk

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