Daffnet,
Here are some selected splits and a large cup, also from crosses made in 2002, involving things like Shrike, Printal, Lorikeet, Widgeon, and Gin and Lime. Clearly, they are all novelty garden flowers, not for exhibition. They have been carefully observed since first flowering in 2007-2008, and they’ll be lined out once again this fall for ultimate selection in 2016. Many have substance of leather and stems to withstand the most inclement weather.
2002 Ruffles
Jason – I am new to breeding and really like the Div 11 you are showing in the above photo. I am beginning to appreciate a good show flower but I really like an outstanding garden flower. I deliver 25 bouquets to work every week and most people are blown away by the butterfly daffodils. I’ve crossed a few Div 11’s but none have bloomed yet. In fact my 1st maiden bloom may open in a day or two. I feel like a new dad. Will send baby pics even if it is an ugly kid.
Bill,
Splits are my favorite to breed. I Iove the ruffles and their exotic look–and, they are always popular.
My early breeding involved ‘Printal’ as my primary pollen parent; it was the only decent split I had at the time, with broad petals, lots of bloom, and strong stems. I was never able to get it to set seed, but I had no problem fertilzing other flowers with its pollen. In 2005 I lined out several hundred bulbs of each cross, of ‘Widgeon x Printal’, ‘Lorikeet x Printal’, and ‘Gin and Lime x Printal’. The other split I used was Shrike, which at the time had the most shock-value. I used it on things like ‘Gin and Lime’, and ‘Lorikeet’. These crosses also yeilded numerous seedlings.
Both pollen parents are clearly evident in their seedlings, regardless of the seed parent. ‘Printal’ produced very round flowers in their outline, with piles of loopy ruffles; and ‘Shrike’ produced pointed flowers with very lacinated, jagged coronas and a host of unusual trumpets that have coronal pleating from the juncture to the rim. Numerous large-cupped and and trumpet offspring also occured, and on these too the pointed perianths are still dead-ringer.
Having made these crosses and seen them flower for several years, it is very evident, especially when breeding for splits, that one needs to use parents on both sides that have as good of form as you can get–the unknown lineage in many of the older Dutch splits brings out all sorts of recessive traits—primarily those for messy, irregular and jagged flowers. The stems need to be very strong in either parent in order to support the flowers, especially when breeding for splits with extravagant, if not excessive ruffling. I’m not so obsessive about form as I am about a flower that catches your attention and thrives, but a well formed daffodil certainly looks better than one that looks like it went through the lawnmower. Though ‘Printal’ has given me some lovely garden flowers, I don’t think I would use it again, as it can pass along hollow stems; some of the Jackson and Scamp flowers, as well as some of the newer Gerritsen splits, would be my basis today; at least for me, they are RUGGED in their constituion and many are of exhibition quality. I also don’t think I would use ‘Shrike’ again, or any flowers with ‘Phantom’ in their lineage– this is my personal opinion, mind you— though both are lovely flowers and have proven great potential, ‘Phantom’ seems to pass along a foul trait that causes the flowers to literally split along the perianth tube, causing two petals and that section of the corona to completely separate; the look is that of flowers that someone has carefully sliced open with a knife, as if to take a wedge comptely out. ‘Shrike’ passes that trait along, and many of my seedlings would be considered were it not for this tendancy.
To summarize: Use good parents! Strong stems, strong flowers, flowers above the foliage; flowers with excellent form (if you are hell-bent on a specific split that may have less-than-ideal form, then cross with with an exhibition-caliber flower of the same color, outcome, etc.); and pick good colors. Nothing screams ‘look at me’ more than a brilliantly colored split (like ‘Spanish Fiesta’, in our climate, where it can be red-orange and seen from across the field). I’ve also found that you can very easily ‘engineer’ your splits based on the seed parent: trumpets, and large-cups with broad, flat perianths will yeild more flowers with split coronas covering the petals; small-cups, especailly the really small cups, will leave the majority of the perianth visible, thus providing a better basis for a show flower, and if exhibition is what you seek, there are so many fine Div. 3 flowers to use for this approach. I, however, prefer those whose periaths are lost behind a blaring, ruffled corona. And then there’s the whole notion of doubles x splits, and splits x doubles; my seedlings of these crosses are still far from blooming, but the Dutch have been quite successful in their trials of such outrageously showy flowers. And don’t forget to put fertlie jonquil and triandrus pollen onto splits. The world is yours!
Have fun– In the end, that’s what it should be about.
Jason
My Div 11’s are beginning to bloom so I will take your advice and use some of the best Div 11 Pollen onto anything that is strong and looks like it would make a good paring.
Jason and Bill,
Just a thought about breeding Split Corona.
Over the years we have discussed Div 11 cultivars ‘going to grass’ that is the bulb has a habit of dividing into hundreds of non flowering small bulblets. I suggest that bulb strength is also a valid criteria to be assured of when breeding in this division, or maybe breeders have now overcome this weakness.
Dave