We have just returned from the Murphys show at Ironstone Vineyards. Tucked away in one corner and ignored by nearly everyone, including its owner, was one of the most unusual daffodils that I have ever seen. When I saw it on the bench my first thought was that some-one was making a joke and perhaps the flower had been dyed. Second thought was that the lighting in that part of the room was weird and the third thought was that the flower was actually dead. After judging the show we took it outside and sure enough the perianth was a grey-steel color with some blueish tints and was very much still alive. Capturing the exact color was difficult to do. Several people tried and complained. Here are some of my photos made under different lighting conditions, hence the several photos below. The flower was bred by Bob Spotts and of course has N. viridiflorus in its background. A few of the flowers with that species in their ancestry, age to a grayish color like ‘Limas Shooting Stars’ and even certain individuals of the species have a blue-gray cast over the green. Some-how Bob has managed to accentuate that aspect of the viridiflorus gene code. Bob said that he originally thought the perianth was white with a green base, (color code 12WG-GRR) but later under cross examination he thought it was whitish with a “pale green” overlay. I suspect that the good man in the rush to enter all his flowers did not pay close attention to that flower which after all was not really of exhibition quality. Even if the color is due to aging, and many daffs change color as they age, it does show what may be possible to achieve in the future.
Harold