Rod Barwick has international fame as a daffodil breeder, but what matters to him is a love of gardening

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A self-described eccentric, daffodil breeder Rod Barwick started growing bulbs at his property in Hobart's northern suburbs in the 1970s. It's a passion that has never left him, and he has been recognised internationally for his daffodil breeding work.

Transcript

00:00Rod Barwick is surrounded by daffodils in springtime.

00:06It's a passion that started in the 1970s.

00:11I was not the person that my family would have dreamed of.

00:18I realised that I would probably need to find another life for myself.

00:27He grew his first bulbs in 1972 and within a few years started breeding them to create new varieties.

00:36Cultivars from his Glenbrook Bulb Farm have won prizes at flower shows at home and abroad.

00:43And here's his most famous of all, this is his first hybrid, Smarmel, which is a white flower, very famous all around the world.

00:51And his latest breeding are things like this, Ben Blur, which is bred for its purity and geometricity of form.

01:00He's an artist and he's very ambitious in his art.

01:05There's no one I know in Australia who has been so successful in breeding the kind of daffodils that he breeds.

01:12But it's sharing a love of gardening that's most important to Mr Barwick.

01:19I would see a lot of his seedlings come up and be inspired in the way that I wanted to do my own.

01:28With his sister Anne, Mr Barwick started the Claremont Spring Flower Show in Hobart's northern suburbs.

01:35This year the show celebrated its 40th anniversary.

01:40I hope that I've been able to share my enthusiasm for plants with many people.

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