For many, the fragrant, familiar flowers of hyacinths evoke a particular nostalgia, yet in comparison to other spring bulbs, they're a niche horticultural interest. But as the spring mists rise over a quiet field in Cambridgeshire, it is hard to resist the romantic rows of flowers that make up the National Collection, and are testimony to decades of obsession.
Here, collection holder Alan Shipp grows 250 cultivars of Hyacinthus orientalis, amassed over more than 35 years and from all across Europe – thought to be the largest collection of its kind in the world. Alan is now internationally renowned as a hyacinth expert, yet he fell into this area of horticulture by chance.
“My father and grandfather were market gardeners, but we couldn't compete with the new, massive farms, so I started looking for a high-output diversification crop,” he explains.
In 1985, he bought 100 hyacinth bulbs for 8p each in a nursery sale; there were five cultivars and, as a temporary measure, he planted them in his garden. “When I dug them up, I missed one,” he says.
