I’ve been asked to tell you about another way daffodils are disappearing.
Some of you will remember the garden at Whetstone Park that the Central Ohio Daffodil Society maintained for many years. (more than 30 we think) At one time it was the largest daffodil garden anywhere and contained over 1600 varieties in 16 huge beds.
Our presence there has now concluded. There has been a tremendous amount of theft in recent years. We dug extremely early this year as many cultivars were “marked” with rocks, tennis balls, by having all the blooms removed from a clump, etc. By digging early we were able to get some of the bulbs before the thieves. But not all; even some of the bulbs we gave the city last year to maintain a slight presence in a new garden they are developing were stolen! We especially wanted to leave some ‘Whetstone’ and ‘Ohio’ but the thieves managed to get most of them too.
(I would love to catch the person doing this; to think someone would go into a public park and dig up someone’s hard work meant for the enjoyment of all!!)
The thieves especially like the white daffodils and of course any others that are showy!
CODS would like to thank those who so generously contributed to the garden over the years, both locally and from all over the world!
You know who you are if I tried to name you all I would leave some one out and I would hate to do that.
At one time it was a labor of love; then it turned into just hard work and disappointment.
Helen Meeker spent countless hours there in the last years and knew just which daffodils had been pilfered since the day before. CODS owes her especially a debt of gratitude for all her hard work and diligence. It is not nice to mention a ladies age but Helen is well over 80 and can outwork us all.
I’m sure many visitors to Whetstone Park and the Park of Roses will miss the daffodils, and I hope not just the thieves!
Phyllis Hess
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