Description
‘Gil Blas’
2Y-Y
[Incomparabilis 2a]
(Leeds, E., pre-1877)
We have finally determined this charming yellow “Incomp” thanks to the Irish nurseryman, W.B. Hartland, who commented accurately on its “peculiar greenish yellow foliage” in his 1886 Catalogue. Gil Blas is the eponymous low-born rogue of a picaresque early eighteenth-century satirical novel (I suppose Don Quixote, Tristram Shandy, Tom Jones and Becky Sharp are bedfellows). Crikey. It’s such an innocent-looking daffodil, with slender, elliptic to oblong, starry perianth segments become palest mimosa, recurving at the base and incurving at the apex. The regularly pleated, vase-shaped corona opens golden yellow, ageing paler, its rim ruffled, obscurely six-lobed and tinged majolica. Very early flowering. Oh, and ‘Gil Blas’ eventually achieves wealth and respectability; we’ve cared for this stock for over twenty-five years and are still waiting …
