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Check John Hunter’s ‘Cream Cone‘ on Daffseek. The judges can’t stand it, the public say ‘Where can I get a dozen?’ Sometimes I wonder if our pursuit of perfection is distancing us from our greatest admirers – the public.
Dave
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A discussion forum for daffodil enthusiasts around the world.
Dave, I think you have voiced a very astute observation. For 40 years I have clandestinely listened to the visitors comments once the judging is over. They go “ga-ga” over the doubles, the split coronas, the miniatures, and especially like the “novelty types” such as ‘Petit Four’. It seems that the Dutch were savvy enough to pick up on this years back. The rest of the daffodil world is way behind on this important aspect of growing daffodils.
About ‘Petit Four’… I have told this story many times, but can’t resist again: I had the privilege of judging with ADS Past President Bill Roese of CA, and Dick Frank of TN, many years back at a National Show. I was maybe 25 years old. Several other judges came to me and said, “Stand your ground, don’t let Bill and Dick run over you.” Well we had a wonderful judging experience (in fact, I’ve NEVER had a bad daffodil show judging experience). We came to a single entry of ‘Petit Four’. One of the ADS Past Presidents (either Bill Ticknor or Dr Bill Bender) had just written an article for The Daffodil Journal concerning “single entry syndrome”, whereby we judges are often guilty of scrutinizing a single entry more critically than one with competition. We didn’t want to be guilty of that. So we reasoned that the ‘Petit Four’ before us was the most lovely specimen of this cultivar that any of us had ever seen. It had a fully packed/stuffed cup. But the most appealing feature of all, were the fangs. “Finest fangs I’ve ever seen”, declared Bill Roese. Thus we awarded the ‘Petit Four’ a blue ribbon. Years later I told Bill and Dick about the warning I had received, “not to allow them to intimidate me during the judging”. They both blurted out at the same time, “Ha, we were afraid of you!” I have many, many fond daffodil memories, but I never see a ‘Petit Four’ that I don’t think back to this experience. My life has been greatly enriched by my daffodil travels, experiences and the great daffodil people I have been privileged to interact with and learn from. Thank you, ‘Petit Four’.
Cordially,
Jaydee Atkins Ager
Executive Director
PO BX 522 Hawkinsville, GA 31036-0522
The American Daffodil Society, Inc.
http://www.daffodilusa.org http://www.daffodilusastore.org http://www.daffseek.org