country of origin

One of the reasons I asked about this is that we have people coming to the information booths from all over the world. Especially lots of folks come to the botanical gardens where we have our main Texas Show there in Dallas.
 
Saturday the young lady from Germany wanted to know which species were native to her home country.
 
We had a couple from India or Pakistan or Turkey come through and get really excited about the photo showing n. Jonquilla. None of us understood a single word as they were obviously trying to explain that they were familiar with this species. They could not understand a word of what we were saying….
 
Just think how the world map of countries has changed since MANY of these daffodils were collected. Think about the trade routes that sprang up after conquering armies returned with treasures from far off lands.
 
We were trying to explain to children at times how good the various daffodils smelled. When we would get done explaining this some of the younger children would pick up a bulb and sniff it…..WHAT if we sprayed the fragrant daffodil bulbs with perfume to let the people know which ones will have scent:-))) NEXT year! Keith Kridler

7 comments for “country of origin


  1. We purchased John Blanchard’s book Narcissus A Guide to Wild Daffodils, published by the Alpine Garden Society.  John has maps of distribution. His book is very worthwhile, and we are enjoying it.  But the decision not to have this info on line, I have heard, was made purposely so that wild stocks would not be plundered.
    Melissa

     At 05:54 AM 6/2/2008, Keith Kridler wrote:

    One of the reasons I asked about this is that we have people coming to the information booths from all over the world. Especially lots of folks come to the botanical gardens where we have our main Texas Show there in Dallas.
     
    Saturday the young lady from Germany wanted to know which species were native to her home country.
     
    We had a couple from India or Pakistan or Turkey come through and get really excited about the photo showing n. Jonquilla. None of us understood a single word as they were obviously trying to explain that they were familiar with this species. They could not understand a word of what we were saying….
     
    Just think how the world map of countries has changed since MANY of these daffodils were collected. Think about the trade routes that sprang up after conquering armies returned with treasures from far off lands.
     
    We were trying to explain to children at times how good the various daffodils smelled. When we would get done explaining this some of the younger children would pick up a bulb and sniff it…..WHAT if we sprayed the fragrant daffodil bulbs with perfume to let the people know which ones will have scent:-))) NEXT year! Keith Kridler


     

  2. Well Melissa, if this was not the reason, it should have been.  I understand that when John wrote about his travels, he purposefully was a little vague about where he was so that it would be difficult to get there.  I do believe he shared the information with daffodil people.
    Donna
    “Melissa M. Reading” < title=> wrote:

    We purchased John Blanchard’s book Narcissus A Guide to Wild Daffodils, published by the Alpine Garden Society.  John has maps of distribution. His book is very worthwhile, and we are enjoying it.  But the decision not to have this info on line, I have heard, was made purposely so that wild stocks would not be plundered.
    Melissa

     At 05:54 AM 6/2/2008, Keith Kridler wrote:

    One of the reasons I asked about this is that we have people coming to the information booths from all over the world. Especially lots of folks come to the botanical gardens where we have our main Texas Show there in Dallas.
     
    Saturday the young lady from Germany wanted to know which species were native to her home country.
     
    We had a couple from India or Pakistan or Turkey come through and get really excited about the photo showing n. Jonquilla. None of us understood a single word as they were obviously trying to explain that they were familiar with this species. They could not understand a word of what we were saying….
     
    Just think how the world map of countries has changed since MANY of these daffodils were collected. Think about the trade routes that sprang up after conquering armies returned with treasures from far off lands.
     
    We were trying to explain to children at times how good the various daffodils smelled. When we would get done explaining this some of the younger children would pick up a bulb and sniff it…..WHAT if we sprayed the fragrant daffodil bulbs with perfume to let the people know which ones will have scent:-))) NEXT year! Keith Kridler



  3. Well, you wouldn’t want to give GPS coordinates, :-), but I don’t think it hurts to say that N. poeticus grows on both sides of the Pyrennees, in France and Spain, and across the mountains of Europe into Austria.
     
    Mary Lou

  4. Exactly!
    Donna

    Mary Lou Gripshover < title=> wrote:

    Well, you wouldn’t want to give GPS coordinates, :-), but I don’t think it hurts to say that N. poeticus grows on both sides of the Pyrennees, in France and Spain, and across the mountains of Europe into Austria.
     
    Mary Lou
  5. I agree that for educational purposes, it is sufficient to list the country of origin without going into details of the specific location. This makes for great cross-curriculum teaching for science (botany), geography, and social studies (or whatever they call it these days).
    Becky Fox Matthews that daffy girl near Nashville (also an informal science educator for many years)

  6. Message text written by “Mary Lou Gripshover” and across the mountains of Europe into Austria.< And then into Hugary and Poland James Akers

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