2026 Van Beck Historic Tazettas

The Van Beck collection of historic tazettas and paperwhites is the prized culmination of twenty-five years of collecting from remnant historic gardens in north Florida, south Georgia and Natchez, Mississippi. Roughly 120 varieties span a broad gamut of plant sizes and floral aesthetics no longer represented in commercially available historic cultivars.

The majority of garden sites whence these came date from around 1880 to the early 1920s. One notable garden site near Natchez dates to the 1840s; however, the photographic evidence for tazettas in the garden date from around 1880 to around 1900.

The heyday of tazettas preceded the advent of cheap photography in publications. The lack of period photographs makes conclusive identification of the majority of varieties anywhere from annoyingly difficult to basically impossible. Observation and poring over an extensive collection of period catalog descriptions has yielded tentative identifications for a handful of cultivars. Yet of these, only a few cultivars are sufficiently distinctive to match well a detailed description from a highly reputable catalog. Any element of doubt necessitates a variety to be re-named, rather than be released under a name that could be incorrect.

Flowers that resist all attempts of identification but that have distinctive attributes and a strong growth habit will be registered with the Royal Horticulture Society. As stocks are increased, they will be made available via PHS Daffodils. --svb