Daffodils in the Southern Hemisphere - 2007

[Joakim B]

Graham thanks for the info on the pinks.
The 5 for 5€ looks as pinks as Yours on the package but not in real life. That is a bit misleading and have made quite a few people angry.
I am not implying that You should sell Yours 5 for 5 but just wanted to know what is out in "that world".
The split Yellow almost looks like a yellow pelagonia in the flower. Not my thing but interesting.
Kind regards
Joakim

[Mini-daffs]

 
Joakim, it is a feature of the mass marketers in Europe that they "touch up" the photos in terms of making pink pinker and red redder in their marketing photos. The other thing they do is invent names for existing cultivars and use of photos of something that is not in the package. Totally illegal in Australia and New Zealand. It is a frequently raised topic on daffnet because it makes a lot of people angry.
You will find that the colour in the catalogues I have mentioned is not a result of skills with Photoshop.I don't edit my photos for colour. What you see is the colour of the flower as it is here.
It is the time to seek out catalogues from Northern hemisphere suppliers now. I can send you a John Reed catalogue if you let me have your e-mail address. The addresses of most of the quality suppliers is on the American Daffodil Society website.
Do you grow your daffodils in Sweden or Portugal. Portugal is the home to N. cyclamineus.

[Paul T]

Graham,

I put off looking at this thread for the last week because I had limited time and KNEW it would take a while.  4 pages in a week, and WHAT PICTURES!!!!!!!!?  Wow.  I just want so many of them (to put it mildly).  Some of the pink cyclamineus in particular caught my eye, but the white fernandesii really appeals to me (I just love those species types, absolutely adore them and the smaller the better!!  ).  'Good Friend' is fantastic, the split watieri is another "to die for" flower (I cried this year when I found my pot of N. watieri was empty.... one of my very fav daffs and it has gone to the Goddess.  ...... and I rather liked the first of the split coronas with the bits missing.  I don't mind split daffs generally, but I quite like the "3 point" effect of the missing bits.  Something unusual.  And the idea of miniature doubles..... swoon!!!!! 

Yep, you can tell I am enjoying your pics as always.  SO looking forward to the show.    Thanks for taking the time to share all these pics with us.

[Joakim B]

Graham
I am new to Portugal and only this year did I try with some 25 for 5€ to get something below the pots with citrus threes we had in the glassed veranda. The result was not that good since a lot of the bulbs goot eaten and rot away. I had some flowering but will leave the pots outside this year and they seem to be doing much better, both the citrus and the narcissus.
I have not been out and looked at flowers in any good place and hence not seen N. cyclamineus.
In Sweden we have some narcisus and they are nice since they are not eaten by dear (Bambi). With narcissus I am more gardner than collector but I start to realize that quallity is not that bad and quantity might be less good if the space is limmited.
I would much appreciate a catalogue and will send You my email.
In Hungary I have nice N.poeticus (not sure if it is a spices or an old cultivar/hybrid).
The old and good garden narcissus to me are the ones that take care of them selfs so I have been thinking of them as self-relient. That is a different thing compared to show plants that one fuss and take great care of. I need to get my head around narcissus as great show plants and not only great garden plants. You have truly shown the greatness of narcissus and I will be very happy if some of these ones prove to be also nice gardenplants in the future.
Thanks again for taking the time to show and educate us.

Kind regards from warm Portugal
Joakim

[Mini-daffs]

 
Joakim
There is an issue when it comes to good garden plant versus exhibition quality. In this regard you need to see which daffodil is described as a good garden plant. If you have a small area then intermediates and miniatures are best but if you have a larger area then it is standards. In relation to older varieties great care needs to be taken because of virus (oops an unmentionable) and also the tendency of some old varieties not to flower but just produce foliage. What is often sold as King Alfred is usually not King Alfred but a later variety that is more likely to flower.
I think that the catalogues I have described will have good modern varieties that will do well for you in the garden and develop into good clumps. Mitsch has an excellent range of hardy white pinks including split cups. If you have limited space go for quality rather than quantity. A standard 1Y-Y that has done well for us in the field is Hitch Hiker. It is a Jackson variety and may be still available through Mitsch in the USA (the advantage of Mitsch is that you don't have to turn them around but there may still be quarantine issues-I am not sure as I only know what applies to our bulbs). But if you want to wow your friends you go for some of the white-pinks. Some of the split cup white pinks are simply sensational.
We are primarily breeders and sellers of exhibition miniature daffodils. You have to be a real enthusiast to grow our daffodils (latest and greatest) but our daffodils are no more expensive than the best of Brian Duncan's when he was in business. We put out lists in December/ January because we are in the southern hemisphere. You also have to pay quarantine costs and then turn them around. If you want to win at a show you pay an arm and a leg for Good Friend but if you just want something white and miniature you pay an arm for Second Fiddle (so named because it was not as good a Platinum Legend our first exhibition miniature). Second Fiddle is very floriferous, multiplies well and is fairly hardy (we grow our dry program miniatures outdoors in conditions similar to Spain or parts of California).
What has been eating your daffodils?

[Joakim B]

Graham what was eating the daffodils where "mini fly lava" the larva of fruitfles or something similar. That together with to wet conditions made them rot. Otherwise I love that they are not eaten by any mammal.
Graham You are right since space is an issue I have stated thinking drifferently from how I used to think (the bigger the better).
We (Sweden and Portugal) are inside the European union so we have to have quarantine from US but is ok from UK and the rest of EU. It would be fun to really have a pink one. I have seen that the "newer standards" (5 for 5) are not as hardy as some of the "old ones" and hence do not come back at least not in Sweden. For Portugal I will wait untill I have land of my own before putting Your excelent bulbs in the ground or in a pot.
The old ones in Sweden are old since they surrvived for a long time in different soils and still managed to flower. They are far from spectacular in flower but in "mass plantings" they are nice.

Kind regards
Joakim

[Maggi Young]

Hello. Way back in September 2005, in the old forum there were various posts about a Narcissus called 'Yimkin'... Here is the original link to the page,   http://www.srgc.org.uk/discus/messages/8/16212.html?1148052405
 but , for ease, I repot the comments and some pix here....



The photos are from Lesley Cox, who was struggling with slug and snail damage at the time, as you can see. Here are Lesley's comments when she posted the pix,

Posted on Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - 11:02 pm: Lesley Cox
This little baby is called `Yimkin.' It's a seedling bred by the late Carl Teschner of Dunedin, NZ. Carl was an elderly man when I met him back in the early sixties and died I think in the early seventies. He was the first NZer to join the AGS in 1929. I shall always remember him, gnome-like, hopping from rock to rock in his very steep garden. A clever grower, kindly and generous too.

also some from Graham Fleming ( MiniDaffs)...

Posted on Friday, September 02, 2005 - 11:03 am:   Graham Fleming
I could not find Yimkin in the stud book so it may be an unregistered name unless it has been only registered fairly recently. Yimkin looks like a jonquilla hybrid. They often put up secondary flower stems.
 

Posted on Saturday, September 03, 2005 - 4:02 am:  Lesley Cox
I think that you're right Graham and `Yimkin' has never been registered. It is quite distinct from any other I've met so may be worth registering if only as a memorial to Carl Teschner, often known here as the "father" of alpine gardening in NZ. He was a great Iris man too and had many bulbous species and others which certainly aren't around now.

[Maggi Young]

So... why is she posting this now, I hear you ask?
Simple:  I have had an email form Jocelyn and Ian Bell of Kowahi Park Wanganui , New Zealand who have send me this photo of their Narcissus 'Yimkin'  along with some info about their source.


Jocelyn and Ian tell me that  "We purchased our "Narcissus "Yimkin"from the late Charlie Challenger more than 15 years ago. The plants in a pot are starting into flower."
 They were also good enough to attach a copy of the nursery catalogue of said Mr Challenger. I'm working on that to show you!

[Maggi Young]

 The Bells' bulbs were obtained from  the late Mr Clhallenger, who, with his wife Pat, ran the Kereru nursery in Okuti Valley, Little River, Canterbury NZ.  The Challengers started the nursery in 1984 and, in 1993, when the catalogue was dated, sent a message to their customers that they were cutting back from their remit as an nursery for Alpines, Bulbs and Rock Garden Plants, to simply be Bulb sellers...they were, as they said " after all, both supposed to be retired". Thus, the alpines would be phased out and they would concentrate on the bulbs.... I do not know how long this continued , or when Charlie died, nor the fate of Pat.. but someone out there will surely know...
In the 1993 bulb catalogue, they listed Narcissus 'Yimkin' ... calling it

" an outstanding cyclamineous hybrid, with a quality and form quite suitable for the show bench. Tiny golden flowers, only 4 inches tall.  VERY SCARCE and only the second time we've ever had enough to offer.  $6.00

Interesting to get another slant on this little narcissus. isn't it? My thanks to Jocelyn and Ian  Bell for getting in touch and allowing me to post this.

[Lesley Cox]

Voices from my dark past! As I remember, the last time I met Ian and Jocelyn was up a mountain following the first of the NZAGS study weekends. I wonder, do they lurk here from time to time?

I think Charlie Challenger died a few years ago but to be honest, I'm not sure so I hope someone from the Christchuch area will post something here and clear that up. Charlie was a great grower with many contacts among the bulb and plant collectors of the 40s, 50s, and later so was the original source of many precious things in NZ. He was also a firm believer in keeping records of his plants' lives and I remember Pat saying once that he was so busy making lists he no longer had time to grow the plants, but I think her tongue was firmly in her cheek as she said it. 

FYI, Kereru is the native wood pigeon, a beautiful iridescent bird of approximately blue/grey/green colouring but with a rich plum sheen. It also seems to be wearing a snow-white singlet, white chest which extends as "straps" over each shoulder. We have a lot round here though it is endangered in many parts of the country. Apparently it was one of the tastier birds for Maoris but is protected now, though many Maoris want that reversed and a number able to be shot for "cultural" food purposes. I offer no comment on that.

[Maggi Young]

Kereru is the native wood pigeon

That explains the wood pigeon which is in the logo of this nursery, and shown in the pdf the Bells sent me.
 Yup, there is often a clue!

[mark smyth]

http://www.raywilsonbirdphotography.co.uk/Galleries/Birds/World/Pigeons/New%20Zealand%20Pigeon.html

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks for the pigeon link Mark. That's a really nice website. I've taken numerous photos of the pigeon but never achieved anything better than a blur as it passes. It rests way too high for a good amateur pic, often in the tops of poplars or at its lowest, on the power lines.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
It has not been a good day for photos or hybrising but since we desparately need some rain I can't complain.
I have taken several photos of our miniature and intermediate W-Ps that are stable. The miniature 6W-P has faded to more of an Australian pink.
It would have been nice if our N. pseudonarcissus moschatus had had pollen.
The large miniature is a bit big for us and does not have the refinement we prefer but it is going to be a strong pink.

[mark smyth]

best looking for me in that batch is the Interestingly coloured tiny miniature with 8 petals.jpg