Daffodil Types, Historics

A white one in California

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I joined this list last year and a discussion ensued about white daffodils in California.  I was not able to get a picture last year, but here is what I found today.  The flowers measure 9.5 to 10 cm across and the trumpets measure 3.75 to 4 cm from the base to the curve of the ruffle.  I have no idea when these were planted and may be in the historic category as they are at the very least 30 years old.

 

Colleen in NE Calif.

5 comments for “A white one in California”

  1. The only thing I’ve ever found around here that looks like that from that era is Mt Hood.

    Mike Larmer

  2. I just reread and it says Mount Hood opens with a light greenish yellow and these did not.  They have a very pale yellow cast to the bud while still in its sheath, but the flower opens white, not even a creamy white.

    Colleen

  3. Just noticed another difference maybe difference with Mount Hood.  The Daffseek pictures show the flowers looking out from the stem, whatever the correct term is, and if you look in my second picture, they are more pendulous.

    Colleen

  4. If I were guessing at a name for a white daffodil that will survive in one location for 30 years or longer that is of this size and color I would have said it was Mount Hood. For us the trumpet opens a darker creamy white than the petals but then slowly changes to a pure white.
     
    It is a fairly slow multiplier but it resists basal rot. It tends to grow better on heavier silt, heavy garden type soils than it does on very deep sandy soils. It often opens looking downward and will be fully open on fairly short stems but won’t have pure white color until the blooms are on stems that reach up above the tops of the foliage. All depending on air and soil temperatures but very often for early season shows Mount Hood and Beersheba are a couple of the first white division 1 trumpets to open and be nicely enough formed to deserve a ribbon or two from the older white trumpets.
     
    Drought conditions in East Texas are forcing the daffodils and other bulbs to die down a full month early. I don’t recall some of these varieties that were ever ready to dig by the first week in April. Some of the species are down to brown leaves already! Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas

  5. I am in agreement with the identification being that of Mount Hood.  It was the first group of daffodils we planted when we purchased our home here in Richmond 35 years ago (they were sold out of King Alfred at the local hardware store) and we did not even know the ADS existed, much less that there were thousands of named varieties.

    Ross

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