Fortuna is a city near the California coast about a 5 hour drive north of San Francisco. The daffodil show is sponsored by the Fortuna Garden Club. The daffodil season there as well as the rest of California came very early this year. Many of us were scouring our gardens for flowers to take to this show. We even recycled some flowers from the Murphys show the previous weekend to take to Fortuna. Despite that, the Fortuna show was much smaller than usual (187 stems) with flowers that might not have been entered in a more competitive show. As you look at the award winners, you’ll see instances of loss of substance, even some browning, and other faults. Just remember that the decision of the judges is final, so there’s no use second guessing the results. There were few enough awards that I’ll put all the photos in this posting rather than spread them out over several postings. Here they are in the order in which they’re listed on the show report form.
The Gold Ribbon is for the best standard daffodil in the show excluding the container classes. Usually a division 1, 2, or 3 flower wins, so it’s nice to see some other division achieving best in show. You can’t see it in the photo, but all the perianth segments reflexed the same amount for a pleasing symmetry.
The Rose Ribbon is for the best standard seedling excluding the container classes exhibited by its originator.
The Miniature Gold Ribbon is for the best miniature in the show excluding the container classes.
The Miniature Rose Ribbon is for the best miniature seedling excluding the container classes exhibited by its originator.
The White Ribbon is for the best set of three standards. Intermediates are standards by American show rules, and this exhibit was in the Intermediate Section where it also won the award for best set of three intermediates.
The Miniature White Ribbon is for the best set of three miniatures. In this case it happens to be a seedling. The diameter of the flowers was about 5/8 inch or 1.5 centimeters.
You’ll see additional instances of ‘Dreamlight’ in this show. Just as last week in Murphys there were a lot of ‘Tahiti,’ there were numerous ‘Dreamlight’ at Fortuna. I guess this was their week to bloom. According to our procedures, the judges look for the best intermediate in the Intermediate Section and the standard collections; they do not search the entire show.
We had about a half dozen single-stem entries in the Historic Section, no 3-stem entries or collections.
There is an award for the best bloom in the Classic Section and another award for the best single-stem exhibit in the Classic Section. This entry won both.
The best bloom in the Youth Section was exhibited by 10 year old Clare Wilson, grand daughter of Nancy Wilson.
Best bloom in the Small Growers Section was (you guessed it!) ‘Dreamlight.’
The Red-White-Blue Ribbon is for the best collection of 5 American-bred cultivars. The flowers in the winning exhibit are:
Back: 5-3-12 3W-GYO, ‘Koshare’ 8W-Y (Spotts), ‘Vineland’6Y-Y (Havens);
Front: WOW! 2Y-Y (Reed), ‘Rockne’ 2Y-Y (Reed).
The Purple Ribbon is for the best collection of 5 standards. Due to a recent rules change, all collections of five are now eligible. Previously the American-bred collection and the reverse bicolor collection were not eligible. The winner was a division 2 collection. The flowers are:
Back: ‘Salome’ 2W-PPY, ‘Altun Ha’ 2YYW-W;
Front: ‘Pearl Sheen’ 2W-W, ‘Celtic Gold’ 2Y-Y, ‘Foundation’ 2W-W.
The Bozievich class calls for 12 standards from at least 4 RHS divisions. Flowers in the winning collection are:
Top: 5-2-1027 12Y-YYO, 5-3-09 3Y-GYO, 5-3-26 7YYW-W, ‘Chaco Canyon’ 2W-YOO;
Middle: 5-3-17 3W-GYR, 5-2-1067 2O-R, ‘Bob Spotts’ 2W-W, 5-3-21 12Y-YOR;
Bottom: ‘American Banker’ 2Y-Y, ‘Dreamlight’ 3W-GWR, 5-3-04 12Y-GGY, 5-3-32 9W-YYR.
The Watrous class calls for 12 miniatures from at least 3 RHS divisions. Flowers in the winning collection are:
Back: ‘Apollo Gold’ 10Y-Y, Koopowitz 15 7Y-Y (N. aureus x N. miniatus), ‘Xit’ 3W-W, ‘Golden Symphony’ 5Y-Y;
Middle: N. bulb. var. tenuifolius 13Y-Y, ‘Sweet Leilani 5Y-Y, ‘China Gold’ 10Y-Y, ‘Diamond Ring’ 10Y-Y;
Front: JBK 07-04-02 10Y-Y (N. bulb. ‘Long Form’ x N. obesus), ‘Canavenice 8W-Y, ‘Yellow Pearl’ 7Y-Y, ‘Connie Greenfield Late’ 10Y-Y.
Although it simply says 6 miniatures by hybridizer, the award also insists the exhibitor be the originator as well as the hybridizer. The flowers in the winning collection are:
JBK 07-17-01 10Y-Y (N. bulb. ‘Scalloped Corona’ x N. bulb. var. tenuifolius),
JBK 07-04-01 10Y-Y (N. bulb. ‘Long Corona’ x N. obesus),
JBK 07-21-04 10Y-Y (N. bulb. viriditubus MS 142 x N. bulb. var. tenuifolius),
JBK 09-05-01 10Y-Y (‘Connie Greenfield’ x N. bulb. var. citrinus),
JBK 09-24-01 10Y-Y (‘Connie Greenfield’ x N. bulb. var. filifolius),
JBK 09-25-02 10Y-Y (‘Tony Goode Farrer’ x N. obesus).
The Miniature Bronze Ribbon is offered only at regional daffodil shows, and this year Fortuna was the Pacific regional show. The Miniature Bronze Ribbon is for the best collection of 3 stems each of 5 different miniatures from at least 3 RHS divisions. The flowers in the winning collection are:
Back to Front: ‘Xit’ 3W-W, ‘China Gold’ 10Y-Y, ‘Apollo Gold’ 10Y-Y, ‘Diamond Ring’ 10Y-Y, ‘Midget’ 1Y-Y.
There you have it. If an ADS award was not mentioned, it means there were no entries in the corresponding classes.
I must express my gratitude to Kirby for rescuing some of my flowers at the close of the Murphys Show, taking them to his home and fridging them for a week, then transporting them to Fortuna. Also to Jan Moyers who, with Kirby, staged those blooms that still had signs of life. I am very fortunate to have such good friends!
Bob