Two weeks ago I chatted with Jerry Landerholm, President of the ADS (that would be the American Dahlia Society). Jerry is often at the Chicago Botanic Garden, and he and his wife stopped in at our Convention last month, just as Mary and I visited the convention of that other ADS here last year.
In our more recent visit, Jerry told me that he and his wife had once gone on a horticultural tour of Australia and New Zealand and had met a wonderful daffodil enthusiast, Wells Knierim. Jerry was pleased to learn that this ADS honors Wells with our new photography award.
Last weekend I made a daffodil presentation to a regional meeting of the Rhododendron Society at the home of Jill Griesse, who is very active with that group and who chose to give a program of “cross fertilization” to that group. In separate instances three rhody fans mentioned their acquaintance with Wells and of his enthusiasm for our favorite flower. One man from Pittsburgh related that after a conversation at a convention, he had received from Wells a package of 18 cultivars, 12 bulbs each! Though Wells was from Cleveland, he was the host for the 1973 American Rhododendron Society convention in Pittsburgh.
I didn’t know Wells Knierim, but with four such glowing tributes in less than two weeks, I wish I had known him.
George Dorner 
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For those of you who didn’t know Wells Knierim, he was quite a guy. I don’t know whether he is one of the original ADS members, but if not, he must have joined soon after. He served as President and was Treasurer for many years. He is a Silver Medal recipient. He was Chairman of an ADS National Show in Portland, before there was an Oregon Daffodil Society. He shipped his containers from Cleveland to Portland. I think he may have been the first American to travel to Northern Ireland. And he was always taking photos and sharing them in slide presentations to others. There are still over 500 of Wells’s photos in DaffSeek.
Wells is responsible for many of those of us who lived in the Columbus, Ohio, area in the late 60s, early 70s, becoming thoroughly infected with “yellow fever” and joining the ADS. There was a large spring flower show in the area, the Norwest Show, and one of the show judges, Mary Elizabeth Blue, said she knew a “guy in Cleveland, and she could probably get him to come and talk to us about daffodils.” So, Wells came. At the end of his presentation, he said he’d give us a $5 bulb from his garden for each blue ribbon we won at his show, if we’d come. You understand that in the late 60s, a $5 bulb was something!! So we went to Cleveland, won lots of blues (Wells probably put his flowers in collections), and the rest, as they say, is history.
Mary Lou
Do I remember correctly that, after Wells’ wife Mary died, he would often make several different entries of twelve stems of white daffodils, because
the whites were Mary’s favorites, and he just wanted people to see what was possible and available out there? Maybe just displays, not entries.
According to the little booklet which is one of my closely guarded Historian’s documents, Wells was a member by 1954 but was not a charter
member.
I used to trail around after him at my first conventions, taking pictures of him taking pictures of daffodils. And at many conventions, he’d host an informal
slide show after one of the night speeches==a well-attended occasion.
He was also the instigator of color in the Journal, wasn’t he?
Loyce McKenzie
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We toured Tasmania with a small group of American visitors after the World Convention in 1988. Wells travelled with and was obviously a great friend of Dr Bill Bender. As Wells boarded the bus on one occasion he said loudly ‘I’m 81 years old. I’m allowed to be cantankerous.” He had probably been cantankerous for years so I guess he knew himself well. However, as others have said, he was very generous and kind underneath the persona. He was very generous to our then 12yr old son Lane on that trip.
David Adams
Hello Everyone,
There is a record 61degree frost over our province this morning. Locals are referring to it as a Chiefly Frost brought about by two Hurricane hits. It has been followed by a deep depression even though there is not a cloud in the sky. We need a Crusade of some kind to get us out of our Blues. If this does not work we will be calling on the Scots to help although they haven’t been very helpful this year..
I am sure that David Adams and John McLennan will explain all this gobbledegook with some pleasure!!!
I am really writing about Wells and Mary Knieram. They were great friends of the late Phil Phillips who often referred in glowing terms oo the pioneering work that Wells was doing in photographing daffodils. They visited NZ several times including the World Convention. Many New Zealanders would have had the opportunity of seeing his slide programmes which were always accompanied by helpful and often blunt assessments of the flowers. Wells was larger than life and Mary was charming. The tributes paid are a reminder of what we owe to our older generations. I have this year started what I hope will be a series of tributes in the NZ Daffodil Annual to our daffodil pioneers beginning with Jim O’More written by Reg Cull, John Hunter, Max Hamilton and myself..
By the way in addition to the above the Annual will contain its usual mix of articles on daffodil breeding, cultural items (including natural remedies for BR and digging and drying systems), daffodil people and amusing anecdotes. Overseas people can obtain copies as well as other NDSNZ publications by joining the Society. Just send a cheque for the equivalent of $NZ30.00 to our Treasurer Kevin Kerr,12 Chartwell Place , Richmond
The Sun continues to shine brightly but the depression remains.