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Alec Gray (1895-1986) was an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...
nurseryman and horticulturalist. He was notable as an authority on and breeder of
daffodils ''Narcissus'' is a genus of predominantly spring flowering perennial plants of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. Various common names including daffodil,The word "daffodil" is also applied to related genera such as '' Sternbergia'', ''Is ...
, having developed over 100 new
cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
s 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

Alec Gray was born in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 1895.''The Daffodil Journal'', v23 (1986), 110 During he First World War he served in the
Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...
, which lead him to be awarded the Belgian Croix Gueve. After the First World War had ended he qualified in fruit growing and worked in
North Devon North Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. North Devon Council is based in Barnstaple. Other towns and villages in the North Devon District include Braunton, Fremington, Ilfracombe, Instow, South Molton, Lynton and ...
before managing the
Gulval Gulval ( kw, Lannystli) is a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Although historically a parish in its own right, Gulval was incorporated into the parishes of Ludgvan, Madron and Penzance in 1934, and is now considered to be a subu ...
Ministry Experimental Station near
Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situ ...
.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
Scilly Isles The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...
, which is where his passion for daffodils and the isle 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 Dutchy Farm up until 1963 and would continue to visit the Scilly Isles on a yearly basis after that. During the 1940s Gray would found the business Broadleigh Gardens. He would also go onto established a nursery at
Treswithian Treswithian is a hamlet west of Camborne Camborne ( kw, Kammbronn) is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mout ...
near
Camborne Camborne ( kw, Kammbronn) is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth, Cornwall, Hell's Mouth and Deadman's Cove ...
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 Bant's Carn is a Bronze Age entrance grave located on a steep slope on the island of St Mary's in the Isles of Scilly, England. The tomb is one of the best examples of a Scillonian entrance grave. Below Bant's Carn, lies the remains of the Iron ...
. In 1972 his and others archaeological findings would be published collectively in the book, Cornish Archaeology volume 11. 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. 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 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.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 The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (No ...
Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...
, including "Elka", "Jumblie", "Minnow" and " Sun Disc". Gray retired in 1984 and died only two years later 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,
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by t ...
. The various ''narcissus'' species, hybrids and cultivars are now part of a
National Collection The UK National Collection is a collection of around 280 historic rail vehicles (predominantly of British origin). The majority of the collection is kept at four national museums: * National Railway Museum, York * Locomotion, Shildon * Science ...
Brittain, ''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.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Alec English horticulturists 1895 births 1986 deaths