Alec Gray (horticulturalist)

Alec Gray (1895-1986) was an English nurseryman and horticulturalist. He was notable as an authority on and breeder of daffodils, having developed over 100 new cultivars over a career spanning 60 years.[1] In his free time he was also an enthusiastic archaeologist and poet.[2]

Life and career

Alec Gray was born in London in 1895.[3] During he First World War he served in the Royal Marines, which lead him to be awarded the Belgian Croix Gueve.[2] After the First World War had ended he qualified in fruit growing and worked in North Devon before managing the Gulval Ministry Experimental Station near Penzance.[4] In the 1923 he moved on to work as a farm manager at the Duchy Farm on the Scilly Isles, which is where his passion for daffodils and the isle of Scilly was kindled.[5] He established a small collection of daffodil varieties, and by the 1930s started to register new varieties himself. Gray would remain working at Dutchy Farm up until 1963 and would continue to visit the Scilly Isles on a yearly basis after that.[2]

During the 1940s Gray would found the business Broadleigh Gardens.[6] He would also go onto established a nursery at Treswithian near Camborne where he ran a nursery business throughout the 1950s and 1960s.[7] He kept Broadleigh Gardens for many years before selling it in 1972.[8] Gray was also an amateur archaeologist and was one of the first people to excavate a stone age village at Bant's Carn.[2] In 1972 his and others archaeological findings would be published collectively in the book, Cornish Archaeology volume 11.[9] In 1979 he would also go onto publish a book of his own book titled To Scilly, which was filled with poems he had written inspired by his time at the Isles of Scilly.[2]

Narcissus "Tête-à-tête", one of the many cultivars introduced by Gray.

Gray specialised in miniature daffodils, many bred from plants collected on trips to Southern Europe.[1] Whilst some miniatures had been bred previously, Gray effectively created the modern form of miniature daffodil, originally as an inadvertent accident during his attempts to breed early-flowering larger varieties. Amongst the cultivars he subsequently developed was Narcissus 'Tête-à-Tête', first grown in the 1940s, and which became the most widely grown miniature variety despite Gray initially being unimpressed with the plant.[10] "Tête-à-Tête" remains an extremely commercially significant variety: by 2006 it made up some 34% of the total Dutch daffodil bulb trade, with 17 million pots sold at auction.[1] A number of his other varieties won the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit, including "Elka", "Jumblie", "Minnow" and "Sun Disc".[11]

Gray retired in 1984 and died only two years later in 1986.[12] After his death, Gray's daffodil collection was sold to Walter Stagg and then to Lady Skelmersdale of Broadleigh Gardens, Taunton.[2] The various narcissus species, hybrids and cultivars are now part of a National Collection[13] at Broadleigh Gardens where they are maintained, propagated and can be visited.

Narcissus cultivars

Below is a comprehensive list of the 115 Narcissus cultivars bred by Alec Gray.[14]

Alec Gray's Narcissus Cultivars
Cultivar Name Date Introduced
Angie 1948
Anticipation 1975
April Tears 1939
Arctic Morn 1949
Bebop 1949
Bergh 1951
Bobbysoxer 1949
Bucca 1959
Camborne 1995
Candlepower 1975
Charles Warren 1948
Chinese Lantern 1955
Chough 1958
Clare 1968
Cobweb 1938
Cornet 1953
Demure 1953
Dilly 1958
Doncella 1967
Doublebois 1962
Dutch Quince 1986
Elfhorn 1948
Elfhorn# 1941
Elka 1989
Exit 1999
Flomay 1946
Flute 1957
Frosty Morn 1941
Gambas 1964
Gipsy Queen 1969
Gnome 1967
Goldsithney 1949
Green Ginger 1975
Halingy 1949
Helada 1961
Hifi 1959
Home Guard 1941
Hors d'Oeuvre 1959
Ivory Gate 1949
Jana 1949
Jetage 1957
Jethan 1967
Johanna 1950
Jumblie 1952
Keats 1968
Kehelland 1946
Kenellis 1948
Kidling 1951
Land Girl 1944
Leenan 1952
Little Dancer 1977
Little Dawn 1977
Little Sentry 1984
Lively Lady 1969
Lucy Gray 1974
March Breeze 1954
Marionette 1946
Mary Plumstead 1954
Marychild 1956
Millennium 1972
Miniskirt 1967
Minnow 1962
Mitzi 1955
Mitzy 1955
Mustardseed 1937
Nolyn 2007
Opening Bid 1975
Pango 1949
Paula Cottell 1961
Peaseblossom 1938
Pendrathen 1956
Perconger 1941
Phyllida Garth 1948
Picoblanco 1961
Pipers Barn 1947
Poppet 1958
Promise 1974
Quince 1953
Raindrop 1942
Rikki 1962
Roger 1952
Rosaline Murphy 1958
Rosedown 1949
Rupert 1961
Saint Helens 1941
Sea Gift 1923
Segovia 1962
Shady 1962
Shrew 1950
Shrimp 1955
Sidhe 1944
Skelmersdale Gold 1986
Skiffle 1957
Sneezy 1956
Snug 1957
Soltar 1961
Sprite 1972
Stafford 1956
Stella Turk 1958
Sugarbush 1954
Sun Disc 1946
Sundial 1955
Tanagra 1946
Tête-à-Tête 1949
Thoughtful 1951
Tiddler 1962
Tosca 1969
Tweeny 1950
Votive Candle 1967
West Wind 1958
Wolf 1935
Xit 1948
Yamolf 1950
Yellow Xit 1968
Yindee 1957

References

  1. Kingsbury, Noel, Garden Flora, 2016, p.216
  2. "To Scilly: Poems Inspired by the Isles of Scilly" (PDF). Dafflibrary.org. 1979. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  3. The Daffodil Journal, v23 (1986), 110
  4. Tompsett, Golden Harvest: The Story of Daffodil Growing in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly'", 2006, p.55
  5. Tompsett, Andrew (2006). Golden Harvest The Story of Daffodil Growing in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Alison Hodge. pp. 55, 56, 57. ISBN 9780906720462.
  6. "About Broadleigh". Broadleigh Gardens. 2022-06-13. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  7. "Alec Gray, Treswithian Daffodil Farm, Cornwall, England; 1952 – 1964". Dafflibrary.org. 2022-06-13. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  8. The Daffodil Journal. Vol. 30–32. American Daffodil Society. 1993. p. 155.
  9. "CORNISH ARCHAEOLOGY" (PDF). Cornisharchaeology.org.uk. 1972. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  10. Bourne, "Watch out for narcissus flies", Daily Telegraph 01-04-13
  11. "AGM Plants July 2021 © RHS – ORNAMENTAL" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. 2021. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  12. Tompsett, p.56
  13. Brittain, The Plant Lovers Companion, 2006, p.38
  14. "Query specified: Raiser: Alec Gray". DaffSeek American Daffodil Society. 2023-06-15. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
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