Minnesota Spring Show Results

(I attempted to send an earlier version of this to daffnet and it bounced back to me so my apologies if it comes through twice.)
Spring finally arrived in Minnesota though almost two weeks late! As you might have seen posted here in the last days of April, we were forced to cancel our orignal May 3-4 spring show due to lack of blooms; I literally had one daff in flower that weekend. However, due to the plucky perseverence of several Minnesota Daffodil Society members who wouldn’t say die, we were able to find a new location and rescheduled the show two weeks later with a near record number of blooms shown! And with the diligent publicity efforts of Margaret Macneale and Sue Nyhammer the Minneapolis newspaper garden section posted the new date and location (almost unheard of, they usually insist on a month’s notice for inclusion) the weekend garden program on the KARE TV station told of our rescheduled new location and the local suburban newspaper, the Sun Post, wrote a lengthy article inviting the neighborhhood to come see the Daffodil Beauty Contest being held in their midst! Traffic wasn’t what we’re accustomed to having but everyone who did come intentionally sought us out and every one of them specifically referenced one of those publicity efforts. And the Sun Post ran a front page follow-up article complete with two large color pictures showing Mike Berrigan, Denis Dailey and Ethel Smith judging and a table length of staged blooms; very impressive!
So all ended very well and from a selfish perspective, having gone on the World Daffodil Tour, our late spring meant I was able to enjoy all my early spring blooming ephemerals and trees/shrubs. The Forsythia and Magnolias were just opening when I returned home and the Redbud opened this week – yes, Minnesota finally has a reliably winter-hardy Redbud. Hurray!!! Now if they could do the same with the Flowering Dogwood you wouldn’t have to put up with my annual lament. We continue to enjoy peak daffodil bloom. I’ve got quite a few that are still in very early bud stage. Temperatures are still mild for where they should be so I’m hopeful of an extended season!
Here are our show results.
Kathy Julius Golden Valley, Minnesota
Daffodil Society of Minnesota Spring Show Robinsdale Public Safety Building, Robinsdale, MN Sponsor Daffodil Society of Minnesota Chairman Michael Berrigan Date May 17th
Number of Exhibits 308 Number of Exhibitors 13 Number of Blooms 719 Artistic Arrangements 14 Number of Exhibitors 3
Gold Ribbon Michael Berrigan