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.Kingsbury, Noel, Garden Flora, 2016, p.216 In his free time he was also an enthusiastic archaeologist and poet.
Life and career Gray was born in London in 1895.The Daffodil Journal, v23 (1986), 110 During WWI he served in the Royal Marines, which led him to be awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre. After the war he qualified in fruit growing and worked in North Devon before managing the Gulval Ministry Experimental Station near Penzance.Tompsett, Golden Harvest: The Story of Daffodil Growing in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, 2006, p. 55 In the 1923 he moved on to work as a farm manager at the Duchy Farm on the Isles of Scilly, which is where his passion for daffodils and the Isles of Scilly was kindled. He established a small collection of daffodil varieties, and by the 1930s started to register new varieties himself. Gray would remain working at Duchy Farm up until 1963 and would continue to visit Scilly on annually after that.
During the 1940s, Gray founded the business Broadleigh Gardens at Bishops Hull. He would also go on to establish a nursery at Treswithian near Camborne where he ran a nursery business throughout the 1950s and 1960s. He kept Broadleigh Gardens for many years before selling it in 1972. Gray was also an amateur archaeologist and was one of the first people to excavate a stone age village at Bant's Carn. In 1972, his and others' archaeological findings would be published collectively in the book, Cornish Archaeology; volume 11. In 1979, he would also go on to publish a book of his own titled To Scilly, which was filled with poems he had written inspired by his time on the Isles of Scilly.
Gray specialised in miniature daffodils, many bred from plants collected on trips to Southern Europe. Whilst some miniatures had been bred previously, Gray effectively created the modern form of miniature daffodil, originally as inadvertently 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.Bourne, "Watch out for narcissus flies", Daily Telegraph 01-04-13 "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. A number of his other varieties won the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit, including "Elka", "Jumblie", "Minnow" and "Sun Disc".
Gray retired in 1984, and died in 1986.Tompsett, p. 56 After his death, Gray's daffodil collection was sold to Walter Stagg and then to Lady Skelmersdale of Broadleigh Gardens near Taunton. The various narcissus species, hybrids and cultivars are now part of a National CollectionBrittain, The Plant Lovers Companion, 2006, p. 38 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. +Alec Gray's Narcissus CultivarsCultivar NameDate IntroducedAngie1948Anticipation1975April Tears1939Arctic Morn1949Bebop1949Bergh1951Bobbysoxer1949Bucca1959Camborne1995Candlepower1975Charles Warren1948Chinese Lantern1955Chough1958Clare1968Cobweb1938Cornet1953Demure1953Dilly1958Doncella1967Doublebois1962Dutch Quince1986Elfhorn1948Elfhorn#1941Elka1989Exit1999Flomay1946Flute1957Frosty Morn1941Gambas1964Gipsy Queen1969Gnome1967Goldsithney1949Green Ginger1975Halingy1949Helada1961Hifi1959Home Guard1941Hors d'Oeuvre1959Ivory Gate1949Jana1949Jetage1957Jethan1967Johanna1950Jumblie1952Keats1968Kehelland1946Kenellis1948Kidling1951Land Girl1944Leenan1952Little Dancer1977Little Dawn1977Little Sentry1984Lively Lady1969Lucy Gray1974March Breeze1954Marionette1946Mary Plumstead1954Marychild1956Millennium1972Miniskirt1967Minnow1962Mitzi1955Mitzy1955Mustardseed1937Nolyn2007Opening Bid1975Pango1949Paula Cottell1961Peaseblossom1938Pendrathen1956Perconger1941Phyllida Garth1948Picoblanco1961Pipers Barn1947Poppet1958Promise1974Quince1953Raindrop1942Rikki1962Roger1952Rosaline Murphy1958Rosedown1949Rupert1961Saint Helens1941Sea Gift1923Segovia1962Shady1962Shrew1950Shrimp1955Sidhe1944Skelmersdale Gold1986Skiffle1957Sneezy1956Snug1957Soltar1961Sprite1972Stafford1956Stella Turk1958Sugarbush1954Sun Disc1946Sundial1955Tanagra1946Tête-à-Tête1949Thoughtful1951Tiddler1962Tosca1969Tweeny1950Votive Candle1967West Wind1958Wolf1935Xit1948Yamolf1950Yellow Xit1968Yindee1957
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