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Imagine it’s Spring 2013 and all of Pomfret streets are lined with bright yellow daffodils!
In celebration of Pomfret’s Tercentennial, the 300th anniversary of Pomfret’s incorporation as a town in 1713, there’s a plan to plant bulbs along all our roads to celebrate our town’s “golden” history when Spring 2013 rolls around.
The Pomfret 300 Committee has been working for more than a year in preparation of this big anniversary. Events are planned throughout the coming year and a half, beginning with this year’s Positively Pomfret Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Pomfret Recreation Fields.
“Bags of Bulbs” will be available at Positively Pomfret Day and all residents are encouraged to participate in the celebration by planting bulbs along the road at the end of your driveway, by your mailbox or in front of your stone wall. The more participants, the greater the impact will be. And perhaps these bulbs will still be around when Pomfret celebrates its next big anniversary decades from now.
The King Alfred Bulbs will be sold in bags of 20 for $20. Instructions on planting will be included and the packages will be dressed with a ribbon - suitable for gift giving! Make a splash in your neighborhood - buy a few bags. Let your neighbors know you are looking forward to your bulbs coming up and encourage them to join in the celebration. We’ll all have something to look forward to in the Spring of 2013 - along with Pomfret’s Tercentennial.
This is a community project that takes community participation! Sponsored by the Pomfret Democratic Town Committee, bulbs are available from any PDTC member, and will only be sold for the next few months. REMEMBER the bulbs must be planted before the ground freezes (first frost is usually around Thanksgiving). Contact Maureen Nicholson @ 860-928-0070 for more information or e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
What is a King Alfred Daffodil?
The King Alfred Daffodil is hardy, bold and bright. The flower is deer resistant and naturalizes easily. It was the first trumpet daffodil to be widely sold commercially. Developed in the late 19th century by John Kendall, an English attorney and hobbyist plant breeder. The King Alfred daffodil dates to around 1890 and was named for Alfred the Great, the medieval English king. The first official record of King Alfred was in 1899 when it was registered with the Royal Horticultural Society.
The King Alfred trumpet daffodil produced a sensation among narcissus lovers. King Alfred had huge golden yellow flowers sometimes measuring four inches or more across on a plant that often reached two feet in height. The long, flaring trumpets protruding from slightly twisted petals were unlike anything ever seen among daffodil flowers. It was a big departure from older types like jonquils, paperwhites and pheasant’s eye.
By the early 1900s the original hundred or so bulbs had multiplied enough for King Alfred to be sold commercially. When it was introduced to the North American plant trade, the new trumpet daffodil was a huge hit. While America was falling in love with the new King Alfred daffodil, horticulturalists in Europe took the bulb and began to improve it, producing newer cultivars that had even bigger, longer lasting and more symmetrical flowers on stronger stems. By the 1920s only a few nurseries were still growing the true King Alfred.
Many plant retailers continue to sell daffodil bulbs carrying the King Alfred name but they are almost certainly not the real thing. King Alfred can still be found growing in old gardens and among the plants of collectors. But don’t be too disappointed if you can’t get the true bulb since King Alfred is the ancestor of all trumpet daffodils even modern varieties have at least a little royal chlorophyll in them.