There’s little doubting that spring has arrived at Broadleigh Gardens as drifts of radiant daffodils ebb and flow through beds and borders, settling beneath trees or partnering other early-flowering bulbs in lawns and containers alike. “More than anything else, daffodils shout spring, especially the yellow ones, which tend to appear when not much else in the garden is flowering and attract pollinating insects,” points out Lady Christine Skelmersdale VMH, author of A Gardener’s Guide to Bulbs.
Christine’s contribution as a leading bulb expert spans decades, beginning in 1972 when she and her late husband, Lord Skelmersdale, bought Broadleigh Gardens, a specialist supplier of small bulbs. The couple had just purchased Barr House in the Somerset village of Bishop’s Hull, undeterred by its yard being knee-high in nettles and brambles. “The garden did not exist and cows literally grazed by
