Celebrating Scottish Nurseryman Peter Barr: Daffodil King and Primrose Prince

 April 20, 1826

Today is the birthday of the Scottish nurseryman and merchant Peter Barr.

Peter is remembered as the Daffodil King and the man who popularized the Daffodil.

After learning daffadowndillies (or daffodils as we now know them) needed to be cataloged, Peter became inspired to collect, breed, and study them.

Over his lifetime, Peter bred over two million daffodils in his Surrey nursery.

Peter’s work even inspired a daffodil craze after the Civil War ended.

At one point, the Peter Barr daffodil - a white trumpet variety - commanded $250 per bulb.

As you can imagine, people would travel from around each spring to see thousands of Daffodils representing over a hundred unique Daffodil varieties blooming at Peter's Nursery.

During his seventies, Peter traveled the world, collecting daffs in Asia and South America.

When Peter finally retired, he went home to Scotland, and once there, he pivoted - and began cultivating Primroses.

Two years before his death, Peter famously mused,

I wonder who will plant my grave with primroses?

When Peter died, his obituary claimed Peter was known from "one end of Great Britain to the other."

Today, the Royal Horticultural Society awards the Peter Barr Memorial Cup for excellence in daffodils.

In 2019, a Grand Blue Plaque Unveiling was at Peter’s English nursery along Garratt Lane.