AFFODIL cultivars are so numerous that, in 1950, the RHS gave them their own special classification system. From about 50 species, breeders have produced more than 27,000 named varieties, divided into 13 divisions: Trumpet, Large-cupped, Small-cupped, Double, Triandrus, Cyclamineus, Jonquilla, Tazetta, Poeticus, Bulbocodium, Split-cupped Collar and Split-cupped Papillon, as well as Other (which don’t fall into any division), Botanical (species and wild hybrids) and Miniature. In 1629, John Parkinson’s identified about 100 types growing in Britain, but it wasn’t until the mid 1800s that interest in breeding exploded. Scottish nurseryman Peter Barr persuaded the RHS to hold a Daffodil Conference ‘Dick Wellband’, caused a sensation in the 1920s when it was launched in New York, posed like a starlet against black velvet drapes. Collectors still hunt for rare heirloom bulbs, often in old gardens, where clumps can last for 100 years. Cultivars vary in flowering time from January to May, and in height from 4in to more than 20in.
