Dear Readers, I always feel like a proper gardener when I receive my copy of ‘The Garden’, the monthly magazine from the Royal Horticultural Society, so today I thought I’d share a few highlights with you.

As you know, I love a new word, though I was slightly bamboozled by news that a bambusarium was going to be built at the RHS garden at Bridgewater in Salford, Greater Manchester. Can you guess what it is? Apparently a bambusarium is a bamboo garden, and the plan is to use no less than 69 bamboo plants, in a variety of colours, to provide an experience that will be like ‘stepping through the wardrowoobe and into Narnia’, though presumably (and sadly) without the friendly lion. Bamboos have a very bad reputation because of their habit of spreading throughout a garden, but there will be root barriers to keep this lot in check. As it’s hoped that some of the plants will grow to eight metres tall it promises to be quite the sight. One of the chosen bamboos is this rather impressive custard-coloured example.

Next, the RHS is putting out a call for three rare, possibly extinct daffodil cultivars. There are 31,000 different types of daffodil and narcissi, but the RHS is particularly interested in these types.

First up is one of the very first pink daffodils, ‘Mrs R.O Backhouse’. The image below is from a 1960 seed catalogue. Sarah Backhouse (1857-1921) was a  remarkable plantswoman, a Quaker and by all accounts someone who was very happy to work away in the background, before stunning everybody with her amazing plants at various shows. One of her varieties, ‘Sunrise’, sold for two shillings a bulb, and somebody bought a thousand of them – this was the equivalent of nearly £11,000 in today’s money. Sadly, this variety was only named after her posthumously.

Pink daffodils are unknown in nature, but it’s thought that Backhouse discovered that crossing a pheasant’s eye narcissus (Narcissus poeticus), which has a red ‘ring’ around the trumpet, with a pure white narcissus meant that the red colour was diluted and became pink.

Sadly, from being extremely popular, ‘Mrs R.O Backhouse’ became rarer and rarer. If you think you have one in your garden, I would definitely let the RHS know.

Then there’s a double orange and yellow daffodil called ‘Sussex Bonfire’, one of 58 varieties developed by Noel Burr. Burr named his daffodils after local places and events, and this one was named after the bonfires of the town of Lewes.

And finally, there’s this pure white double-flowered daffodil, called ‘Mrs William Copeland’, named after the wife of the breeder W.F.M. Copeland. Mr Copeland also bred two different cultivars for his daughters, Irene and Mary.

So why all the excitement about these rare daffodil cultivars? As with ‘rare breeds’ in animals, the RHS is keen to keep as much diversity in garden plants as possible. After all, with climate change and the increased risk of various ‘pest’ species who will be able to survive in the warming conditions, it makes sense to preserve as much genetic variation as possible.

And finally, how about making a home for drone flies in your garden? You might remember me waxing lyrical about these underrated pollinators last year, and I was pleased to see them in the RHS magazine this month, with details on how to build a hoverfly lagoon (basically a bucket of water with wood, grass cuttings and old leaves. The rat-tailed maggots (yes, not the most enticing of names) will develop in the water, eating the detritus in the bottom, and the full-grown drone flies will head out to do some pollinating – apparently a drone fly is eleven times better at pollinating carrots than your average honeybee, so definitely someone to be encouraged!

And if you fancy some citizen science (and I always do) you can see what the Buzzclub is up to here.