Galanthus January 2011

[Martin Baxendale]

I've tried a couple of times but no luck, and Joe Sharman once told me he'd tried a number of years in a row without success.

I did think it would have been attempted before or occured in someones garden. What species of Leucojum did you try may i ask ? I was thinking of trying with Leucojum vernum.
[/quote]

That's what Joe said he'd tried. I tried both vernum and aestivum.

[emma T]

      I guess i could try one of those dinky autumn flowering Leucojum (dont think they are Leucojum anymore )  Or just not try and hope the bees have better luck.

Thanks for the info Martin   

[alpinelover]

At this moment, Galanthus plicatus 'Colossus' is almost flowering.

[Gerard Oud]

      I guess i could try one of those dinky autumn flowering Leucojum (dont think they are Leucojum anymore )  Or just not try and hope the bees have better luck.

Thanks for the info Martin   

A Zebra and a Lippizaner are both family but you cant use neither of them for breeding. The structure of the Leucojumpollen are not the same as the structure of the Galanthuspollen it just doesn't fit.There might be some result but these dont survive. A copple years ago we tried to breed with Fritillaria and Lilium to get growingtime, for the cutflowermarket from 12 weeks to 4 weeks. This would have saved a lot of energy and extra times of cutting flowers in the greenhouses. And i finally could have ordered that new Aston Martin
We did end up with a few Liliarias or Frittiliums but they were to week.

If we had read the Origin of species from Charles Darwin it would have saved us a lot of time

[Martin Baxendale]

I think you need to set your sights a bit lower, Gerard. How many nurserymen do you know who drive Aston Martins? Well, apart from Ian Christie obviously. 

[Gerard Oud]

I am still driving my old Jensen interceptor mk2 from 1971 and Ian a Japanese 4wd. I think Joe Sharman must have somewhere in a shed a nice Ferrari by now

[emma T]

I did think it would have happened already if it were possible. I shall just try  crossing snowdrops with snowdrops then 

[Gerard Oud]

I think you need to set your sights a bit lower, Gerard. How many nurserymen do you know who drive Aston Martins? Well, apart from Ian Christie obviously. 

As i remember Ian  once had a Austin Martin not a Aston Martin!
And Ian and Ann are very kind and generous people, they would never spend that money on a car but give it to theire children!

[Martin Baxendale]

I am still driving my old Jensen interceptor mk2 from 1971 and Ian a Japanese 4wd. I think Joe Sharman must have somewhere in a shed a nice Ferrari by now

Very nice car, Gerard. The Jensen Interceptor was my dream car as a teenager. 

[Gerard Oud]

Oh yes its still a dreamcar Martin and i prefer it above a half British half Ford car if you know what i mean

[Alan_b]

I did think it would have happened already if it were possible....

I'm trying to remember the story origin of narcissus tete-a-tete, which I believe is currently sold in greater numbers than any other narcissus.  I cannot recall the details, maybe someone else can help out, but I think this was the result of a cross which was thought to have a negligible chance of success.  So please don't give up too readily. 

[mark smyth]

from daffseek http://daffseek.com/query/query-detail.php?value1=Tete-a-Tete&lastpage=1&which=hist1

Tete-a-Tete was named as a joke on Mr. Tait. Frank Waley, who was there when it was named, said it was named by Mr. Tait's friend. Mr. Tait bred early miniatures and bred two of his to produce this one. It was never meant to refer to one or two flowers per stem. The name is French for head to head.

[Alan_b]

Thank's Mark, I didn't know that, but that's not the story I am struggling to remember.  Also tete-a-tete was bred by Alec Gray and he does not seem to feature in your account?!?

Edit:  Oh, here we are, courtesy of "Golden Harvest: The Story of Daffodil Growing in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly" by Andrew Tompsett and available to read online here:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jHsuU4pjITQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=golden+harvest,+the+story+of+daffodil&source=bl&ots=_7KVYuU9W0&sig=bJfVD8qTt92USAM7ZMQEklv5e8I&hl=en&ei=c9smTerZCcXQhAeGw422Ag&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false

See page 57.  But that's Mark's tale, not the one I half-remember about how tete-a-tete came to be bred.

Further edit:  Here we are on page 58:  "However not all successful daffodil breeders have taken a scientific approach.  Luck can play a part.  A case in point is that of the little-known variety 'Cyclataz', from which, as we have seen, came the three famous varieties 'Tete a Tete', Jumblie' and 'Quince'."  At this point the Google preview ends so unless somebody owns this book and can relate the tale on page 59 then that is as far as we can go.  So it must be 'Cyclataz' that my tale is about.

Sorry to wander off topic - the moral I was trying to draw is 'Luck can play a part' in bulb breeding. 

[mark smyth]

From Brian Duncan
There are 620 hectares  of 'Tete- a -Tete'  grown in Holland out of a total of about 1,700 hectares of daffodils ie. more than 1/3 of the total crop.
 
It was first raised by Alec gray in Cornwall from 'Cyclataz' open pollinated. Registered pre 1949. Unfortunately it has a peculiar chromosome count of 24 +1B which renders it sterile. Much work(so far unsuccessful) has been done to re-produce Tete a -Tete in other colours or even the same colour because the whole stocks in Holland are virused. I have been asked to do some crosses towards this end but it is not easy - especially as some of the potential Tazetta parents are not suitable for N. Ireland climate.  it is the rate of increase that makes Tete-a Tete such a popular proposition in Holland apart from it's many uses as a garden plant and for pot sales throufg florists, window boxes and tubs.

[Jo]

Fieldgate Prelude was a selected grex from the Mrs Mcnamara seedlings in Colin's garden. The other seedlings selected out looked like Mrs Mcnamara. I've always wondered what happened to those seedlings. Did they ever in some way get into circulation as Mrs Mcnamara? In which case the Mrs Mcnamara being grown now may be a mix of the original clone and a grex from that cross. I keep meaning to ask Colin about that. I expect he'll say that's not likely, but I'd still be interested to know what happened to those look-alikes.

Hi Folks,  I keep hoping for a warm sunny day when my early snowdrops in the garden will obligingly lift their outers.

I give up, so here they are all looking nearly wonderful. I've put them here with this bit of discussion cos it seemed most relevant.

They are Fieldgate Prelude, Mrs Mcnamara, Orion, Donald Simm's Early and Three Ships. 

We've had burst pipes, ugh, so I include the Ice House    and the home of my hopefully hardy cyclamen