There have been flowers on Scilly for as long as there have been people, maybe even longer. The whole of the mainland relied on the Scillonian flower industry for flowers during the winter months. It has been the main industry for centuries and perhaps gave Scilly it’s reputation for Beauty that paved the way for Tourism to take over. Scilly news takes a look at the History of Scilly flowers.
‘The story we tell of these flower- clad Isles, Is a story of hope, the parent of smiles; It tells of a fertile and well-favoured site, Adorned with the Princep, the Sol and the White? Anon
There are two conflicting versions of who the early pioneers of the Silly flower industry were. One says it was a Mr William Trevellick of St Mary’s who sent a hatbox of flowers to London, once he realised their popularity he was often found scourging the Islands for bulbs and hiding them in his coat. However others say it was Thomas Algernon Dorrien-Smith who exported the flowers first and actually gave Trevellick the idea. It was Dorrien-Smith who visited the continent and mainland collecting rare and different varieties.
The bloom of the flower industry was just in time to save the Islanders from economic hardship; in 1882 the potato crop was destroyed by bad weather. In the late Nineteenth Century the Flower Industry overtook the Potato industry. However the weather posed a threat to the Flower farming too, in the early days the bunches of flowers left St Marys in small boats which had to battle against rough seas. They survived and by the beginning of the twentieth century, almost 40 tonnes of flowers were exported twice every week.
The increasing success of flower farming had a huge impact on the Island community. In 1890 school children were allowed a whole month off school in order to help prepare flowers in the busiest season. Scilly’s flowers didn’t only have an impact on the Islands but also on the mainland. The Great Western Railway built special carriages to take 2.5 tons of flowers to London.
Narcissi are the main variety of flowers and they have their place in the history books further back than either Tevellick or Dorrien-Smith. They appear in Mythology for instance the story of Echo:
The Beautiful Narcissus is lured to a pool, as punishment for spurning the advances of nymph Echo. Here Narcissus falls in love with his own reflection, he reaches out to kiss it and is drowned. Narcissi spring were he has died so that beauty such as his will not be forgotton.
Similarly Narcissi were given to Venus for their beauty and sent, the story goes that she bathed in the flowers before entering a beauty contest and winning.
Picture: Scilly Webcam