Hi Daffnetters ,
Late November , Wilf Hall and I made a visit to Ted Dalley , in Marton , about an hour from
here , to congradulate him on being awarded the N D S Certificate of Commendation for services
to daffodils .
Ted is Patron of our Central Daffodil Group, who were very pleased to support his nomination .
It was hoped to present Ted with his Certificate at the Palmerston North N I National in September
but he was not quite well enough to travel at that time ..
We spent a very enjoyable couple of hours discussing our favourite flower and enjoying Ted s memories
of over 60 years with daffs .
His home town of Marton was once the center of daffs in our area and I was enthralled to here of
the big shows they had in the past .
Ted had vivid memories of a Marton show , about 1958 — 60 when they had 5 very strong entries
in their big collection class .
5 entries in a class calling for — 36 vases of 3 stem per variety . ! !
Yes — an amazing 180 vases — and 540 stems .
Quite a show from one class .
And he named the exhibitors — all well known national exhibitors from that era .
G W E Brogden (Spuds Dad ) , George Cull ,(Regs father ) , Sid and Sybil Free ( Regs uncle and Aunt ),
Ron Hyde – a well known Marton Daff breeder and Mrs Moorby ,a top exhibitor from Okoia near Wanganui ..
An impressive class and some great names from New Zealands daffodil history .
From Teds , Wilf and I headed back to Fielding and then up the Kimbolton road to Cross Hills Gardens ,
probably New Zealands best known Rhododendron and Azalea show garden .
The Rhodes were at their peak and a mass of colour in the very attractive and popular parklike grounds ..
Rhodes of all colours and heights .
Cheers John .
You have been sent 3 pictures.
IMG_6644.JPG
IMG_6646.JPG
IMG_6698.JPG
These pictures were sent with Picasa, from Google.
Try it out here: http://picasa.google.com/