Croft 16 Daffodils

We sell old daffodil bulbs - mostly vintage varieties which were bred before 1930.

This is our third season of offering historic daffodil cultivars for sale. Some are being made commercially available for the first time in decades. Our collection has been built up, studied and researched over the past twenty-five years.

In autumn 2010, our collection was officially designated the National Collection® of pre-1930 daffodils, by Plant Heritage (N.C.C.P.G.).

By great good fortune the March 2011 editions of The Garden and Coast carried articles about the croft daffodils. We are truly grateful to all those involved, as they really did us proud, but especially to Jo Whittingham, Paula McWaters and Andrea Jones (Garden Photographer of the Year, 2008). Andrea's beautiful images illustrated both articles, and she has generously allowed us to include several unpublished pictures here (Andrea Jones Photographer). This is an ideal spot to thank Phil McDermott, our very able web-designer, who transforms our text and images into such a navigable and handsome site (Isle of Mull Photographer), and Sophie Donald for allowing us to enhance the site with some of her artistic images (More Croft 16 images).

We are always on the look-out for old daffodil hybrids to add to the collection and the article in The Garden has resulted in some potentially very exciting leads. Having been put in touch with a semi-retired flower farm manager on St Martin's, we took off for a brief, but unforgettable, trip to Scilly in February 2011, and were thrilled and very grateful to be given several cultivars new to us.

Daffodil hybrids which have survived for eighty years or more are tough. Here, our collection of old daffodils thrives on a raised beach: stony, very acid, well-drained soil derived from Torridonian sandstone. The flowers may not have the perfect form or sophisticated colouring of the modern show-bench varieties, but we feel they possess a special charm. These qualities make them ideal for informal plantings.

Over the past decade or so, most winters have been stormy and wet, and relatively mild. Temperatures below -5° C were rarely sustained and snow seldom settled for more than a day. So the persistent, severe wintry weather in December 2009 and January, November and December 2010, during which the night temperature often fell below -10° C, with ice several inches thick and occasional fresh snowfalls, was a bit of a change. Although we were confident the outdoor daffodil stocks would come through unscathed, we assumed that the more tender cut-flower Tazetta and Poetaz varieties in the tunnels would not survive (especially after an atrociously wet and cold summer): they have, but 'Scilly White' kept us waiting until May 2010, and then flowered profusely on very short stems.

Husbandry of the bulbs includes burning over; mulching with seaweed (collected from the shoreline just below the croft); liming and the application of fertilisers; chipping "at risk" stocks, and regular hot-water treatment to control eelworm and to reduce infestation by narcissus-fly. Exporting bulbs to the U.S.A. in 2010 was a very steep, but interesting, learning curve, involving three inspections; the completion of reams of duplicate forms and certificates; spending hours scraping every last scrap of soil from each bulb, and causing consternation at a local Post Office. We were very relieved when we learned that every consignment got through U.S. Customs.

We truly believe the survival of rare plants in cultivation depends on making them available more widely. The response to the article in The Garden has resulted in the early withdrawal of some cultivars from the sales list, as they are over-subscribed already, but a few unusual hybrids have been added. More, beautiful, vintage cultivars have been earmarked for the 2012 season, so we do hope you will look at this site again next year.

Lastly, we should like to extend our sincere thanks to all of you who have contacted us. Selling surplus bulbs is an out-of-control hobby, and, like maintaining the croft, not a viable business. It is the enthusiasm and kind words of such an amazing range of interesting and talented people which encourages us to continue to make these special plants available for sale.

Please contact us on +44 (0)1445 781717 or email sales@croft16daffodils.co.uk if there are other pre-1930 cultivars you are seeking or can offer.

With best wishes        Le gach deagh dhùrachd

Kate and Duncan Donald