Description
(syn. “The O’Mahoney“)
A super, winter-flowering miniature daffodil now regarded as a form of asturiensis, after having been taxonomically batted around a few dwarf species before its status was agreed upon. The flowers are sulphur-yellow rather than golden-yellow, with a beautifully crinkled edge to the trumpet (which is very slightly darker than the petals) and reaching 8-12cm tall at most. It is very vigorous but is still rarely seen.
Flowering is early; very early and it can even force its way through snow to make its flowers most typically in January. Usually it is single but just once in a while you might find it makes a flower with, for example, eight or even nine petals instead of the usual six. Also once in a while you might have it in bloom in the dying days of December or the middle days of February.
By repute E. A. Bowles got it from ‘a friend in Ireland’ and it was then known as, and grown as, “The O’Mahoney” or “O’Mahoney’s variety” under which name it is still seen today. Bowles himself does not appear to mention it in his 1934 work “A handbook of Narcissus” and it seems (I think) to have been registered as late as 1954. It was originally grown as a form of N.pseudonarcissus and was even then noted for being ‘very early’ and ‘occasionally making 7 to 8 petals’. It’s early history is not known with certainty, only that he got it from The O’Mahoney, it is thus presumed to have come from The O’Mahoney’s garden which was at Coolballintaggart, in County Wicklow.
Bowles had it before it was formally recognised but despite apparently being registered in 1954 it only really started to become known in the 1990s when Frank Waley gifted some away to several people from his wonderful garden “Wavertree” at Sevenoaks in Kent. I assume that it went to Frank, who was a brilliant grower of, and a great expert on, Narcissus from EAB and they were certainly in touch. It was certainly distributed by Frank under the name of ‘The O’Mahoney’. The original (and presumably more correct) name being gradually supplanted as it was then spread around further, under the new name “Bowles Early Sulphur” which became attached to it by its association with Bowles.
Introduced to our lists in December 2021. Ours are by the way, increased naturally by offsetting, and not twin-scaling, so you will get the plant in its correct and original form.
