Daffodils in the Southern Hemisphere in 2008

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
Anne you like the high quality exhibition flowers (although 1 is also a colour break seedling) and David has gone for colour (I still have work to do on the perianths but getting colour into the seedlings has taken a while). Not sure how I ended up with such good colour because the seedlings in question are part of our pot hybridising program. What I will do is work to improve the perianths and use them to breed smaller flowers.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
A few more photos of some of little daffodils. There will be two photos of what I term fortuitous daffodils. While checking the beds I discovered a high quality 6Y-Y in a box of what I thought were standard daffodils and I discovered a feral miniature 6Y-O that was opening. Both have been given new homes in their own pots. I have found breeding 6Y-R miniatures more elusive than breeding miniature white-pinks.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
A few more photos of what was flowering in Canberra today.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
The last group of photos for the evening.

[annew]

I like that last but one, it has personality.

[Lesley Cox]

What would you call it Anne? Snub Nose? or Rhino? I like the two immediately above it.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
One of my favourite flowers is N. tenuifolius. It is the smallest bulbocodium species. We have a number of different clones that vary in size. The smallest of our N. tenuifolius clones is minute.
There are quite impolite names for seedlings that are not attractive. The problem in relation to the white pink flower is that it may open totally differently next year. It is hard to tell whether it is a cyclamineus hybrid or a standard.
The feral miniature 6Y-O is looking very promising. A largish miniature but a definite miniature with very nice wide petals. A definite 6Y-O means I can work on developing early 6W-O flowers. I have been working on late flowering 6W-O using our stock of standard 1W-O and 2W-O flowers.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Fascinating thread Graham ! 
So many beauties - very hard to choose from...

[Paul T]

Graham,

Fascinating as always.  I think my favourite of the last week would have to be "Eggshell coloured miniature with pink overcast - angled view.jpg" on the last page. 
Also "KB-M-6W-W-16-2004 - multiplies well.jpg" on this page.  I love the twin flowered bulbocodium (is that a usual trait, or just a one-off mutation?) and those tenuifolius are gorgeous.  There are a number of others too, but I figured I had better keep the list down in size.    I so wish I could purchase a few from you, particularly some of those lovely white-pink miniatures, or the pink-pink ones of course. 

Lovely to see the pics.  I am so going to miss seeing your flowers at the show this year.... if only the Victorian thing wasn't the same weekend. 

Thanks for taking the time to photograph, prepare and post the images for us to enjoy.  Wonderful to see all your little treasures.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
Paul, sounds like you like the latest and greatest (and also the most expensive) miniature daffodils. I am not sure whether it is the weather or our breeding but we are starting to see some unusual coloured daffodils appearing among the seedlings this year. The intriguing thing is that some photos are showing pink colouration which is difficult to discern (probably because of my photochromatic lenses). We have done a lot of hybridising for pink so it is not surprising that we have pink showing up. I prefer it when the pink is strong and permanent. I find the ones that change colour or only show it on the inside of the trumpet a bit of a pain and I will have to work to intensify the pink so it is colourfast and obvious. We have some seedlings in the colourfast category already. The one that didn't open properly is a very obvious pink but not exhibition standard by any means!
The two headed bulbocodium is certainly a mutation but whether it only a temporary aberration or more permanent is difficult to discern. It is the first one to appear in our seedling boxes.
Luc, our miniatures are the product of 20 years of hybridising on a fairly large scale so there is quite a lot of them and because we are geographically isolated breeders our seedlings tend to be like no others. I expect there to be more coloured ones and some of our later flowering exhibition flowers and then the move to non-cyclamineus hybrids in a big way. We have a lot of standards out at the moment as well but I don't have the time or inclination to do much with them.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
My apologies to the addicts who look at the miniature daffodil photos. Inclement weather last weekend so no photos.
While I don't have a lot of photos today the photos are of some exciting new miniatures. We do a lot of breeding down and it has finally producing some exciting new miniatures of standard form. Initially I was disappointed because most of what was flowering was intermediate rather miniature in size. I then noticed some much smaller flowers on shorter stems. We have a superb 2Y-O and a stunning 1W-Y as well as a 1Y-Y. The stem of the 2Y-O is only about 9 cm while the others are slightly taller. They would look good in an alpine garden but unfortunately they would be somewhat pricey!!

[Martin Baxendale]

Lovely form to them all, Graham, and that white micro-mini cyclamineus hybrid is a little stunner too. I assume you chip or twin-scale your best seedlings quite soon after their first flowering to clump them up, or do you grow them on to use them as pollen and seed parents first and see what natural increase and disease resistance is like before chipping them? How long is it generally for you from first flowering to having enough stock to offer for sale?

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
Martin the aim is to breed miniatures that don't need chipping. We have the ability to breed miniatures that divide rapidly and are floriferous. That is also a long and arduous process so there are some flowers that are high quality but not that quick at multiplying so there is a need to use other propagation measures. There are some techniques available to us that can be used instead of chipping but in terms of quantity are similar. If everything goes well we can have some to sell in 3 to 4 years. We usually use new seedlings for hybridising. Occasionally we will pick some exceptional flowers for our local show. Ironically the judges don't always appreciate which flower is really exceptional. Last year we entered an exceptionally good white-pink miniature cyclamineus hybrid and the judges didn't realise it was miniature or exceptional.
Our dry program seedlings are very hardy. They are grown outdoors and don't receive any special treatment other than anti-bird netting to protect them from the cockatoos and currawongs. We are still in drought and the effect on our miniatures has not been overly bad. Our standard sized daffodils have not fared anywhere near as well.
The intermediate split cup is on a miniature stem but the flower is intermediate size and a little too pointy in the petals for my liking. However, the split is even and deep. Obviously one for Lesley!

[annew]

Oooh, nos 1 and 2 are rather special.

[Paul T]

Graham,

Beautiful form to all of them, but the cyclamineus white is the one that really catches my eye.  Stunning, in all cases!!