Peter and all who receive the NDS Annual
I received my copy of the New Zealand Daffodil Annual a few days ago. This Annual contains a number of coloured photographs and some interesting articles, well worth reading.
The Editor, (Peter Ramsay) asked whether there was any further information on the yellow trumpet daffodil variety named ‘Alan Gibson’. This daffodil had excellent form for the time of its introduction, unfortunately, it had a very short commercial life. It was first shown in Palmerston North at the National Daffodil Society of New Zealand’s North Island show on September 14/15th 1950. This show was judged by G.T. Maunder of Gisborne, the associate judge was John Black of Dunedin. The daffodil was entered in the seedling class for yellow trumpets by Ron Hyde who took over the running of Alan Gibson’s Nursery in 1949. It was shown under No. 8/48, it gained Champion Bloom and was awarded a Preliminary Certificate for exhibition at this show. The voting being unaminous. Its breeding was from a very prolific cross ‘Kingscourt’ x ‘Goldcourt’. It was then named after its raiser, Alan Gibson, registered in 1951 by Ron Hyde.
In Gibson’s Nursery’s final catalogue 1961/2 it is given a full page description as a special release for 1962/3.
It states “All available bulbs of this variety are sold for this current season 1961/2”.
Description reads:
1a – Alan Gibson, 3 – 4.
This flower is well known for its superb quality and natural smoothness, carriage and size. When first shown at the N.D.S. Show, Palmerston North, it won Champion Seedling, Champion Yellow Trumpet, and Champion of Champions by a unanimous decision.
The flower as shown on front cover (the same photo is in the 2010 Annual page 34) has a very broad rounded perianth, the major segments of which are so broad they meet at the back. The inner segments are also superbly flat and make for a perfect background to the nice rounded trumpet of good size which is not too widely expanded at the mouth. The colour is soft yellow throughout. Medium height with broad foliage and is a slow increaser. Price 20 pound each.
Note, the description mentions that the flower is a slow increaser. The late Clarrie Andrews in his catalogue of 1976 had the variety ‘Alan Gibson’ catalogued. I well remember seeing the flower at that stage in his planting. Its health was in a terrible state, badly virused and very weak in growth. There is no doubt this variety became stricken with virus very early in its distribution and this lead to a fairly rapid decline in its popularity and it subsequent extinction.
There is another coloured photograph (taken by Jan Pennings) in the Annual on page 60 that is marked ‘an unidentified split corona’. This is not a split, it is a division 4 that was flowering for the first time when Jan found it in our seedling beds last season. He thought this flower was unique as he had never seen anything quite like it, neither had I. This appears to be a completely new type of daffodil in so much as the three sepals (the three outer perianth segments) are white and the three petals (the inner perianth segments) are yellowish /pink. It then has a layer of white petloids with a yellowish/ pink crown in the centre. This opens up a whole new vista of daffodils with alternate colours in the six perianth segments. Imagine how daffodils could look in future. I look forward to this seedling No.15/01B flowering this year to see if it is consistant.
Its breeding is:
Seed Parent 16/84B ‘Drumboe’ x ‘Vahu’ x
Pollen Parent 61/93A (‘Precedent’ x ‘Verran’) x (‘Tropic Isle’ x ‘Fair Prospect’).
Cheers
John
John A. Hunter
195 Patons Road
R.D.1 Richmond
Nelson
New Zealand
Phone 64 3 544 0011