Gardeners urged to check for rare pink daffodil

A splash of pale pink among the usual yellow and white daffodils could be worth a second glance this spring.

Some unexpected coral or salmon colour could mean you have found a rare example of a Narcissus ‘Mrs R. O. Backhouse’.

Gardeners are being urged by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) to check for the daffodil variety in borders to help preserve them.

The flowers have a coral pink trumpet and ivory petals, and were named after Sarah Backhouse (using the initials of her husband, Robert Ormston). She was a celebrated horticulturalist and Quaker who created the first pink-tinted daffodil variety shortly before her death in 1921.

The search for examples is part of the RHS’s Daffodil Diaries project, which aims to map gardens and green spaces. Last year, the project received 3,000 submissions and found that just 6 per cent of daffodil species in Britain contained pink.

Guy Barter, the RHS’s chief horticulturist, said: “With 30,000 daffodil varieties ... in the UK, telling one from another requires an experienced eye, but this diversity is fundamental to their potential benefit for people and planet, and why it’s so important we celebrate and preserve them.”

The society hopes gardeners who find Mrs R. O. Backhouse daffodils at home will dig up the bulbs after flowering and send them to its research facility at RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey, where experts will assess the flowers next spring.

Mr Barter added: “Rare daffodils were spotted across the country [in 2025] and raising them in one location next year will enable us to confirm some of them as the rare varieties we have been searching for and, potentially, find others thought to be in decline.”

Bulbs can also be donated to plant breeder Scamps Daffodils, which is working with the Backhouse Rossie Estate near Ladybank in Fife to bring the flower back into widespread cultivation.

Last year, the RHS asked gardeners to report sightings of Mrs R. O. Backhouse and two other daffodil varieties: Mrs William Copeland (white) and Sussex Bonfire (orange and yellow).

More than 1,000 sightings were reported, and flower mapping revealed that 60 per cent of daffodils were trumpet varieties and 56 per cent had all-yellow flowers. All-yellow trumpet blooms made up more than two fifths (42 per cent) of those recorded. Just 1 per cent had green and 0.4 per cent red.

Dr Kalman Konyves, the RHS’s principal plant scientist, said: “Yellow daffodils are far and away the most popular, not unsurprising, for their welcome burst of colour. But it is interesting to note that the more adaptable pinks have proven less popular than we might have assumed, and green and red varieties negligible, highlighting the importance in maintaining cultivated diversity in gardens.”

Last year’s results showed that peak daffodil blooming took place in March, with the distinctive, miniature Tête-à-tête variety flowering solely in February and March. The RHS said it would use the data collected to identify any changes in peak flowering.

Dr Konyves added: “It will be fascinating to see how this year’s weather conditions impact on flowering. Indeed current mild conditions seem to be encouraging earlier flowering and, over the long term, how the daffodil is weathering the influence of climate change.”

[Source: Daily Telegraph]