The American Daffodil Society’s annual show was held last weekend in Little Rock, Arkansas hosted by the Arkansas Daffodil Society. It’s been a hard winter with fears that there would be few flowers to show, but exhibitors in the southern U.S. rallied to enter 1879 stems in the show. As you’ll see from pictures of some of the collections, there were a lot of rough textures, and some of the collections barely met the standard for their awards. Of course there were also some very good flowers, and we’ll see some of them in the single cultivar awards.
Gold Ribbon
The Gold Ribbon is for the best standard daffodil in the show excluding the Container Section and the Challenge Section. The winner was ‘Sun Bronze’ 2Y-O exhibited by Steve Hampson.
Rose Ribbon
The Rose Ribbon is for the best standard seedling in the show exhibited by its originator excluding the Container Section and the Challenge Section. The winner was 08-58 6W-Y (‘Sugar Rose’ x Kim-2001) exhibited by Larry Force.
White Ribbon and Best Intermediate Three-Stem Ribbon
The White Ribbon is for the best set of 3 standards in the show. The Intermediate Three-Stem Ribbon is for the best set of 3 intermediates in the show. This exhibit ‘Radjel’ 4Y-R won both ribbons. The exhibitor was Larry Force.
Matthew Fowlds Award
The Matthew Fowlds Award is for the best, named, standard cyclamineus hybrid in the show. The winner was ‘Abracadabra’ 6Y-Y exhibited by Larry Force.
Olive W. Lee Trophy
The Olive W. Lee Trophy is for the best standard daffodil from Divisions 5, 6, 7, or 8. The winner was ‘Lemon Springs’ 5Y-Y exhibited by Jack Hollister.
Youth Best Bloom Ribbon
The Youth Best Bloom Ribbon is for the best bloom in the Youth Section. The winner was ‘Pink Silk’ 1W-P exhibited by Katie Hibbs. There’s also a Youth Best of Three Ribbon whose winner I missed photographing, but it’s likely the set of three ‘Pink Silk’ since the best bloom in the section was in a set of three as you can see from the photo.
Small Grower Award
The Small Grower Award is for the best standard daffodil in the Small Grower Section. The section is reserved for exhibitors who grow 50 or fewer cultivars. The winner was ‘Pengarth’ 2YYW-WWY exhibited by Janis Anthony.
John Van Beck Medal
The John Van Beck Medal is for the best bloom in the Historic Section. The winner was ‘King Alfred’ 1Y-Y (1899) exhibited by Bonnie McClure.
Historic Best of Three Ribbon
The Historic Best of Three Ribbon is for the best set of three in the Historic Section. The winner was ‘Beryl’ 6W-YYO (1907) exhibited by Char Roush.
Best Classic Ribbon
The Best Classic Ribbon is for the best bloom in the Classic Section of the show. The winner was ‘Ice Wings’ 5W-W exhibited by Loyce McKenzie.
Best Classic Single-Stem Ribbon
The Best Classic Single-Stem Ribbon is for the best single stem exhibit in the Classic Section. (The best classic bloom might be in a single stem exhibit or in a collection as was the case in this show.) The winner was ‘Red Devon’ 2Y-O (1943) exhibited by Darrin Ellis-May. I heard second hand that the judges had some doubts about this exhibit. In my opinion, this is more likely to be ‘Craig Stiel’ than ‘Red Devon.’
Best Classic Three-Stem Ribbon
The Best Classic Three-Stem Ribbon is for the best set of three in the Classic Section. The winner was ‘Glenwherry’ 3W-R (1947) exhibited by Loyce McKenzie.
Best Intermediate Ribbon
The Best Intermediate Ribbon is for the best intermediate in the Intermediate Section or in any of the standard collections. The winner was 08-116 2O-O (‘Warm Day’ x ‘Arrowhead’) exhibited by Larry Force.
Standard Container-Grown Ribbon
The Standard Container-Grown Ribbon is for the best exhibit of a standard cultivar grown and shown in a container. The winner was ‘Tahiti’ 4Y-O shown by Glenda Brogoitti.
Bender Ribbon
The William A. Bender Ribbon is for the best bloom in the Challenge Section. The winner was W254 1W-W (‘Empress of Ireland’ x ‘Silver Sabre’) exhibited by Nial Watson.
Innovation Medal
The Innovation Medal is not an ADS award but is a special award given by Brian and Betty Duncan for a sufficiently innovative new daffodil. The judges may withhold the award if no candidate is worthy. This year the award goes to 10-59 7G-G ((‘Brooke Ager’ x Swagger) x Koopowitz 04-56) exhibited by Larry Force.
That’s it for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll cover the standard collections and the miniatures.
Kirby, I’ve been meaning to thank you for your pic and comments on my Classic Single Stem winner. We’ve all gotten bulbs that were labeled as one variety and then bloomed as something else entirely. After lots of research, I agree that this is not ‘Red Devon’, but instead ‘Craig Stiel’.
One of the prime reasons I take blooms to National Conventions is to continue my Daff education. I’ve always appriciated judges’ comments and their vast scope of knowledge. I do wish that any of the judges from this panel had brought their varietal questions to my attention. Registered in 1986, ‘Craig Steil’ is not included in the Classics Group. My entry was clearly ineligible to be judged and I wish it had been labled as such. I am dismayed that this incorrect placement has robbed a deserving entry of the Pink Ribbon.
Surely nowadays we can access Daffseek at a show or can’t we?
Nancy can give a better answer than I, but short answer is yes. On a cell phone, on a computer. Nancy, what other devices?
Dave, judges could consult DaffSeek and determine the bloom probably isn’t ‘Red Devon’ . If they have knowledge of what the cultivar probably is (as Kirby did) and can verify that in DaffSeek, they would disallow the award and suggest the correct name. ADS judges tend give the award in cases of unresolved doubt. Of course, in an extreme case where the name given is not possible (eg, a 2Y-R entered as ‘Pink Sink’) , the award is not given even if the true name is not known.
More and more show venues now provide Internet access via wifi. For venues that do not, cell phones and cellular enabled tablet computers with web browsers can be used. At the Arkansas National Convention, there were some judges carrying their iPads or using other cellular devices. I was asked by a couple of teams to look up a daffodil for them in hopes there would be photos in DaffSeek for them to verify the identity of a bloom.
David, you need two things to access DaffSeek, an Internet connection and a web browser. Since DaffSeek’s release in the spring of 2006, there has been a steady increase of computers with DaffSeek appearing in show rooms during the judging process.
Ben and I thank all the contributors that have made DaffSeek the “go to” resource for daffodil information.
Nancy
Thanks folks. The point I was making is obviously already in use.
Dave
I have three comments.
One, is that like Darrin, we are sometimes sold daffodils under the wrong name. If the bloom matches the color code of its alleged name and if we don’t know the cultivar, how are we to tell that it’s misnamed unless we look in Daffseek and see photos that don’t match the bloom? And what if there are no photos for that cultivar? You have to be very suspicious to keep checking Daffseek for everything you grow. Last fall I was sold a bag of ‘Capree Elizabeth’ that turned out to be a nice 2Y-P but whose rim didn’t have the right shape. I decided not to photograph it or enter it in any shows. The ‘Ice Wings’ I bought turned out to be ‘Thalia’. Another award winner at the national show was ‘Pink Silk’, but if you look closely, you’ll notice that the rim is not quite the same shape as in the Daffseek photos. Was the winner really ‘Pink Silk’ or not? It was in the Youth Section. Do you want to disappoint the exhibitor by marking the exhibit misnamed and not judging it when we’re trying to encourage youth exhibitors?
Second comment is that photos of award winners on Daffnet seem to be a double edged sword. On the plus side, it gives people who couldn’t go to a show the chance to see the best flowers. On the minus side, it gives people a chance to second guess the judges. If your only report on a show was the text without photos, you would have no basis for noticing misnamed flowers; you would have to have been at the show to notice. I assume that on the whole it’s better to have the photos; otherwise, I shouldn’t bother taking and posting them.
A third comment is that in theory an ADS approved daffodil show is an educational display for the public and that flowers must be correctly named or it wouldn’t be educational. In some other countries, a daffodil show is a beauty contest, and correct names are desired but not essential. So not everyone is as fixated as Americans on correct names.