Daffodils in the Southern Hemisphere in 2008

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
Finally a photo that is a result of breeding down. This flower is too big to be a miniature but it is on quite a short stem. It has petals width and overlap that makes it something special.

[art600]

Graham

I think they are all magnificent even if they do not match the 'rules'  I particularly like Seedling E with petal length to match trumpet length.

[Martin Baxendale]

Hi
Finally a photo that is a result of breeding down. This flower is too big to be a miniature but it is on quite a short stem. It has petals width and overlap that makes it something special.

Yes indeed. Very nice.

[Lesley Cox]

Graham, I notice in a picture on the previous page that you have a couple of beer bottles sitting on a table. These are for insecticide and fungicide? What a good idea

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
Leslie, one of the prerequisites of daffodil exhibiting is a lot of beer bottles. In days gone by beer bottles were used for exhibiting daffodils but for insurance reasons plastic units are now used. However, you still need your beer bottles to store your flowers for exhibiting and for hybridising purposes.  Different sized bottles are needed depending on what sort of flowers you grow. The preferred bottle for standards was Lowenbrau. It is an expensive restaurant beer. The stubbie bottle is ideal for smaller flowers such as miniatures and intermediates. The only thing is that keen daffodil growers have daffodil refrigerators rather than beer fridges. You would be surpised as to how many flowers you can fit into a 400 litre refrigerator, particularly if they are miniatures.
The bottles on the table were used for taking pollen to the miniatures and for taking photos. I need water rather than beer as a result of serious burns from a tractor accident several years ago. The water is needed to rebuild my skin layers where the burns were not full thickness. The hazards of farming and farm machinery!
The effect of the judging rules for miniatures can be easily seen from our flowers. Long elegant cyclamineus hybrids are less likely to conform to the rules than short stubby cyclamineus hybrids. Short stubby N. cyclamineus are one form of the species and not necessarily the most attractive form.
Time to go and do a few more crosses and take a few photos.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
More photos for those interested.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
Even more photos.

[Mini-daffs]

 

Hi
Another group of photos.
One of the problems I am encountering is flowers that change colour. It is difficult to identify which ones turn pink and which ones don't.

[Maggi Young]

On this matter of blooms changing colour, Graham..... we know that lots of narcissus do change colour after opening... as you say, this makes it tricky for you in various ways.... my question is:
how long "Should" it take/ is it "allowed" to take, for a colour change to take place for a) classifying the colour and b) for the flower to be considered at its peak for exhibition?

[annew]

Some lovely flowers there, Graham.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
Maggie, the colour for exhibiting a flower is when it is fresh. Freshness is when the pollen is yellow and fluffy. With all the advanced breeding going on there are going to be flowers that may still have fresh pollen when the flower changes colour. We have flowers that start off all yellow and then change to white-pink and eventually all white. This colour change can take place in the refrigerator so the white flower still has fresh pollen. There is also the reverse bicolors that start off all yellow and fade to yellow-white and in some cases yellow-white, white, yellow. The yellow-pink trumpet seedling starts out as an all yellow trumpet. We have a whole series of jonquilla hybrids that come in a variety of colours and can have 3 different coloured florets out at the same time. These flowers don't fit the colour classification for daffodils when it comes to naming and registering them. In terms of judging, most judges would not know that the flowers change colour so they will judge according to what is in front of them on the show bench.
Some photos of the challenges of using N. alpestris for hybridising.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
A few more photos. Not as many as I would have liked but it was windy and cold for most of the day. However, there are some photos of some nice seedlings so I hope you enjoy them. I have even included a photo of our miniature split cup for Leslie!

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
A few more photos of the Shade House. Spring has come a bit early for the daffodils. It is just a pity the weather were not more spring like. Really windy is not the best conditions for hybridising and taking photographs!
Beastie is another flower from Rod Barwick of Glenbrook Bulb Farm in Tasmania.

[annew]

1 and 5 are particularly nice.

[David Nicholson]

2 and 4 ain't bad either