Daffodils in the Southern Hemisphere - 2007

[Lesley Cox]

Well, the ABs won but they didn't win well and the Scots played with great courage given the AB's reputation. No massacre. I was very disappointed that the ABs were in washy grey and black uniforms instead of their usual all black. On screen it was almost impossible to tell which man was in which team, especially at the times of close play. I hope they get that sorted.

Back to the daffodils

[Casalima]

Chloe, I suspect that there are more lurkers out there than you. Do you grow daffodils in your garden Chloe?
I am attaching photos of a host of angels for you Chloe!!  Some are even crying! Chloe if you are not able to work out my reference to angels I am sure one of the clever lurkers, or failing that Maggie, can explain the play on words.
Lesley only angels with this posting so no split cups. [/color]

I confess that my first reaction was angels => sexless => infertile ... 

Chloë

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
Chloe, the common name for Narcissus triandus triandus is Angel's Tears. Nothing to do with sex at all!!
Lesley can you direct me to the MAF requirements for phytosanitary certificates for imports of narcissus into New Zealand please. Not sure why you are worrying about the AB's at the moment. They only have an off-day in the knock out phase!!

[Maggi Young]

Ah, Lesley, if only you had been wrong! 40- nil.. yes, that's a hammering, all right.  I would say for the Scots that they still played quite well in defence or the score would have been even higher. The All Blacks, or, as was the case last night, "some black and quite a bit of grey", got a bit careless in the second half, though not enough to really help us! Can't believe that anyone thought it was a good idea to let the teams play in such similar strips.....too confusing for my eyes, at least... though it got easier when Ian recommended that I assume that any attacking play was from an All Black!!
At least we can enjoy the wee daffs from OZ.
By the way, I don't mind a bit of scalloping, Graham 

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
Maggie, I had you down as a lover of big bold brassy splits and a real angel who would care for my rejects!!
BTW we had our in-growth inspection by AQIS today. The inspector liked the angels.

[Maggi Young]

Well what is NOT to love about those angels? I will gladly give a loving home to any of your fallen angels, Graham! As to the big bold and brassy, that sounds more like me than the daffs I favour!!

[Lesley Cox]

Graham, here are two addresses for you. The first is our Biosecurity Index which lists all the plants we are allowed to import, and - by omission - all the others, which we're not.

www1.maf.govt.nz/cgi-bin/bioindex/bioindex.pl

Note the 1 after the www. I don't know of any other web address that includes a number after the www. When you go to that, you enter the plant you want to find out about, then search. It's much easier just to list the genus name as if you enter species as well, you'll get yes or no for that one species, but if you enter just the genus you'll get a list of every permitted species.

This next address is the standards (conditions) for importing to NZ. You'll notice in the bio index L1 and L2. L1 is import without quarantine (there are other conditions though) and L2, must be quarantined. The document 155-02-06 is a very long PDF doc and takes ages to down load. It's about 360 pages long so will keep you in bedtime reading for weeks to come. Much however, is duplicated so just scroll down to Narcissus and read that.

www.biosecurity.govt.nz/imports/plants/standards/155-02-06.pdf

Hope this helps.

[Lesley Cox]

I don't know why the first address doesn't appear as a click-on link. Did it just the same as the second.

In short, bulbs not to be quarantined must be subject to in growth inspection prior to import (you've just done that), cleaned, dormant bulbs inspected immediately prior to import (export from you) and I think they have to be dipped as well, can't remember right now but it will say. The Phyto has to be endorsed by inspector with various things mainly that they are grown in areas known to free from this, that and the other. The wording has to be EXACTLY as in the standard. And every different bulb has to be listed on the phyto. Marcus forgot a couple last summer so they were destroyed on arrival with our inspector here.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
Time to lift the bar to renew the interest of those visiting this thread.
Bit for everyone in this lot and subsequent postings.
I don't usually post photos of other growers daffodils (and if I do they are usually the seedlings of Rod Barwick - the pre-eminent left field hybridiser). My exception is the most stunning intermediate American cherry pink available - Brooke Ager. My bulb was sent to me by my good friend Dr John Reed. It is admired by me because it likes our Canberra conditions. It flowers when other imported bulbs don't. Luc, they would make a magnificent clump but you will need to win the lottery!!
For Chloe there are more angels.
For Maggie there are waifs and just a little bit of scalloping.
Some exquisite miniatures for Leslie who is to be thanked for her assistance in relation to quarantine matters. However, Leslie be warned there will be some genuine splits even though one is subtle in colour.
Some subtle splits for Joakim and Luc (one of them is used by us for clumping in our home garden). For Joakim there is also a poeticus hybrid.
For Anne, I will post a photo of the dwarf 6W-P as it gradually changes from yellow to pink.
There is a bit of colour for Martin.
And for lovers of bulbocodiums there are some real treats.
And who said the end of the season is boring.
Let the show begin.

[Mini-daffs]

 
And the show continues.
More crying Angels for Chloe.
And more bulbocodiums.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
A few more photos.
Warning: Lesley there are huge numbers of splits in these photos!!
That is it folks for the daffodil show. I hope you have enjoyed it.
I also have a few garden photos to post.

[Martin Baxendale]

Chloe, the common name for Narcissus triandus triandus is Angel's Tears. Nothing to do with sex at all!!

As I recall, the story used to go that when Narcissus triandrus was first discovered, the plant hunters involved were accompanied by a local boy called Angelo who (for some reason I can't recall) burst into tears at some point during or just after the dicovery. So the pet name 'Angelo's Tears' was given to the at that time un-named flowers, and that this later became, as it was passed around verbally, 'Angel's Tears'.

Not sure if that story was ever debunked, but it was commonly referred to by the likes of E.A. Bowles and E.B. Anderson in their writings.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Ok people have been looking. How about just a little bit of feedback. Do you like them or hate them or you couldn't care less?
A few garden photos follow.

[Mini-daffs]

 
Hi
Chloe, Martin has kindly filled in the story about Narcissus Triandus Triandus for you and all the other readers (I won't be unkind enough to refer to them as "Lurkers").
I am quite excited about flowering our first miniature poeticus. The seed was kindly sent to us by Suzy Wert in the US. It will open the way up for a new range of late flowering miniatures eventually.

[Maggi Young]

Feedback, eh? Okay, here we go: I cannot understand why the colour of the "pink" daffs is called pink... seems to me to be a rich coral in the best forms...not MY idea of pink, at all!
Why do you use that blue background for your photos, it is not doing too many favours to the colour of the flowers, daffs and others? This has benn mentioned a few times to me in discussion of the pix. It may be a daffodill growing convention but I would think that your little ( or weven large) gems could be shown to much better advantage. In my opinion, there are lots of plus points for a good old 18% grey background... neutral and universally flattering. Black can be striking if going for a more "arty" effect, but, for straight recording and showing flowers to their greatest advantage, I'd go grey!
You're going to say you wish you hadn't asked, now, aren't you?

The thought of miniature poeticus is very exciting, good luck with that project.