The displays of daffodils on the banks below York city walls make a lovely colourful display during March and April each year, although they are only just beginning to bloom in this view. This shot shows the walls along Queen Street, with the Micklegate Bar entrance into the medieval city in the background. I always thought that many of the daffodil bulbs were planted by various York schools in the 1960s, but until I was researching this photo I didn't realise how far back the tradition went.
The planting was started in the early 1800's by Backhouse Nurseries, an early garden centre located just inside the city walls by Queen Street. They planted daffodils outside the city walls at that point, to advertise their business. The site was bought by York's first railway company & used for the city's first railway station. Backhouse moved to a greenfield site elsewhere, but left their daffodils behind. The site in this shot is a short distance from where that original raliway station stood.
@busylady@julzmaioro@seattlite@sarah19@stevepam@paintdipper@pyrrhula Thank you all for your comments and fav, they are appreciated. I've been looking forward to seeing more of the daffodils around the city walls, but they may well be damaged by an approaching storm with strong winds tonight and tomorrow.
Ian
Ian