Daffodil Types, Growing Daffodils, Miniatures

Little Gem Group

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Hein,
 
I remember looking at Wee Bee and Little Gem at Jeanie Driver’s. Assuming correct naming there was a difference in flower height and size. They were growing close together so conditions were the same. If you have stocks of two cultivars they must surely show differences otherwise they are the same cultivar. We have had numerous discussions on Daffnet regarding the using of names of convenience by Dutch producers. What we don’t know is if a producer gave a random name to similar cultivars, filled and order for Little Gem with Wee Bee as he reasoned the recipient wouldn’t know the difference or just guessed a name  because the cultivars are so similar.
 
Dave

2 comments for “Little Gem Group”

  1. Hello Dave,
     
    I grow a larger lot of very good Little Gem, they all flower and the lot is homogeneous. I have a few bulbs of Wee Bee but they are in the small lots collection. I plant these later in autumn so they don’t flower the same time.
    When I asked for the difference before I was told that there is a difference in the shape of the bulbs! I don’t think there is a big lot of Wee Bee in Holland, so if one buys more then say 500 bulbs it could as well be Little Gem, or?…
    Or the Little Gem is actually Wee Bee and we grow it with a wrong name. What is in a name.
    My point is that there is a huge lot of small daffodils in Holland grown and sold as Little Gem but it hardly flowers, in my opinion is n. nanus.
    So if there is no difference in Wee Bee and Little Gem( and Charles Warren and Bagatelle), What is in a name?  It might have  been too easy to register a daffodil without comparing to what we already have.
    Personally I think Bagatelle the better name to use in a catalogue.
     
    Best regards, Hein meeuwissen

  2. Hein,
    Of course who is to say that what I grow as Little Gem is actually correctly named. Down south here it is often difficult to compare cultivars or get accurate advice. My stock of Little Gem flowers prolifically in the open ground, but not so well in pots and sets seed readily.
    Is it possible that some callous producer filled an order of Little Gem with something else back in history? eg N nanus
    What we grow as Wee Bee appears more difficult to grow in cultivation. For us it has a larger and taller flower. I don’t grow the other mentioned cultivars. 
    Dave

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