Daffodils in the Southern Hemisphere - 2007

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
We primarily breed exhibition quality miniatures. They have to be good enough to win a mini gold at a Show in the US or be part of a winning Watrous miniature class. With the bulb costs, quarantine fees and turnaround time it is only a keen exhibitor who wants something really good that is going to want to import from Australia. And yes our bulbs have done very well so we must be doing something right. It is also the driving influence in pursuing high quality miniature whites, reverse bicolors and coloured miniatures. Twisted petals have no place in such a program so we breed out twists. Some of the flowers you have seen with twists are first generation miniaturisations of intermediate sized species. Some small trumpet species (such as N. eugeniae and N. perez-chiscanoi) have nice trumpets that I want to incorporate into our miniatures. Those flowers will never leave the farm. In this business reputation is everything and it takes a long time to be recognised as a quality supplier of exhibition bulbs so you are not going to let bad product out. If we did standards the rejects would end up as part of the cut flower trade.
We do have hybridising programs that have nothing to do with exhibition bulbs but I can't say that there are too many with twisted petals.

[Martin Baxendale]

That top photo, the 6 y-y seedling is very nice indeed, as is the second to bottom, reverse bicolour.

I used to know a nerine breeder near here who would get very frustrated by visitors to the nursery who didn't swoon over his latest seedlings but went for something older and less perfect from his earlier crosses. He knew what his breeding aims were and was pleased when his results matched his expectations, but of course not all his visitors even knew what the breeder's aims were, let alone had an eye well trained and experienced enough to see what he was seeing, or were simply looking for something else, like a good garden plant rather than an exhibition bloom.

Me, I throw away very little (unless truly ugly or prone to disease) from my snowdrop breeding programme. Largely because I'm not aiming for any particular exhibition-type set of features (as snowdrops are not exhibition bulbs) apart from general size, vigour, disease resistance and (that vague concept) 'beauty'. But also because (unlike daffs) there's almost nothing known yet about the breeding genetics of galanthus, so no-one really knows what might or might not be useful for breeding this or that feature in the future. Also, as I'm breeding for good garden bulbs, something not outstanding in one feature or another might, with time, prove a good garden plant, and it can take some years for a good garden plant to show its true colours - it might look like nothing much as a single flower but, after some years, turn out to be a fast increaser, very healthy, disease resistant and much better looking in a clump. Then it would be valuable for breeding. So I always hesitate, at this early stage in snowdrop breeding, to lob anything at the compost heap.

Only problem is, that doesn't half eat up valuable garden space! 

[Mini-daffs]

 
No frustrations as we don't have very many visitors because of insurance, builiding and quarantine issues. One of our very few visitors was Dr Reed and since he is probably the largest breeder of daffodils in the world (from recollection he has about 40 acres of them) he had a good appreciation of our seedlings. He was a little taken by the quality of what we ignored but for us there is no money in standards and yellow daffodils so they are first to be ignored. We have plenty of room although I am trying to limit my self to about an acre of daffodils now. An acre can hold a lot of miniatures!! More than I can handle easily on my own but I am an habitual breeder.

[annew]

  More than I can handle easily on my own but I am an habitual breeder.

Are you breeding yourself an army of garden helpers then, Graham?

[Martin Baxendale]

I have to admit I'm an habitual breeder too. I've done it with primroses, hellebores, snowdrops and small daffs so far, but have my eye on some nice campanulas too. 

My trouble is I only have a small fraction of an acre, which is why these days the garden's pretty much been taken over by snowdrops.

[Maggi Young]

No doubt about it, we have a right bunch of breeders in this Forum and no mistake!
Still, they can't touch you for it... yet!

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
And I thought this was a wholesome site!!
Anne, some offspring but not that keen on hybridising. Daughter who helps at Show time is in the UK at the moment. They all like to drive the tractors!
I have attached some species photos. I need to check up about what is shown as N. wilkommii. It is probably the same as Fermi's but I don't think that is what it is. However, it is going to have more flowers than ever this year. Must be the effects of neglect and drought!

[Mini-daffs]

 
A few more photos.

[Mini-daffs]

 
A few more photos.

[Maggi Young]

'Good Friend' is just lovely, Graham, no wonder it has done so well for you.

I think I never met a triandrus hybrid that I didn't love, I think they are so dainty.

What is the reason behind this intriguing name 'Pilgrim Clay'?

[Martin Baxendale]

Again, I think the triandrus hybrid with twisted petals is very nice as a non-exhibition plant - very elegantly twisted, like a cyclamen (in fact much more like a cyclamen than N. cyclamineus).

[Maggi Young]

There is obviously a huge difference between Narcissus/Daffodill society exhibition expectations and those for the same plants at an SRGC show... we would be looking for health and garden worthiness or pot-quality... twisted petals would scarcely come in to the equation, if at all, since these can readily occur in pure species, too.

[Maggi Young]

I have just discovered that my calendar tells me that this (September 2nd) is Father's Day in Australia... so a very happy fathers' day to all you Australian breeders, sorry, Dads!

[Mini-daffs]

 
The giant bulbocodium is to be named after a friend from the US whose name is Clay Higgins.The pilgrim bit relates to his finding his way among bulbocodiums. He is a very good exhibitor. He kindled my interest in doing bulbocodium hybridising. We are focussing on tiny hybrid and giant hybrids that are not miniature because they are more than 2 inches (5cm) in diameter. The giant ones stand out in the seedling boxes I can assure you. We have already named a giant late flowering bulbocodium Clay's Gold.
Naming is a hassle. It is something that I am way behind with. With miniatures it is nice to have names that match the diminuitive nature of the flowers or are a bit cheeky.
Maggie, yes it was father's day yesterday and I received a text message from my daughter who is currently in the UK. I am now waiting to hear how much money she wants!! 
Lots of breeding done on father's day--I expect at least 5,000 new daffodil children in a couple of years!
I agree that there is a world of difference between your alpine garden shows and daffodil shows. You don't have rules that perfection of form is an ideal and you are not into colour like daffodil growers. With miniatures there is a bit of an obsession with tiniest is best. Personally, I think that it is going a bit far. We have bred lots of tiny flowers but there are several issues. A judge with poor eyesight cannot judge them because they cannot see whether they have any faults. (Photos often show up just how poor the judging is when the judge has poor eyesight or a lack of knowledge about miniatures because they show the faults clearly because of the magnification.) The other thing relates to what they look like on the show bench. That being said I have picked some really high class tiny apodanthe hybrids for the Canberra Show. We have some truly tiny triandus hybrids. Suspect the other parent is the late flowering form of N. rupicola. It what a hybridiser with lots of NTT and N. rupicola does late in the season.
The Canberra Show is one of the best shows in the world for miniature daffodils (helps if you have a commercial hybridiser in the area). The other shows where there is a lot to see are the Tasmanian shows at Claremont and Hobart.
I hope Lesley has noticed that nature has delivered me the perfect split cup N. cordubensis for breeding split cup miniatures.
Some more miniature jonquilla hybrid photos for you.

[Maggi Young]

I'm sure Lesley will notice the split cup cordubensis, Graham.. I did! But, as I think Lesley will agrese, there's split... and then there's split! The natural version is so much more appealing, I think because it looks intended and not contrived, because the finish is neater!

I hope your travelling daughter doesn't want too much money or we'll never be able to afford your little yellow babies!