Fall-Blooming Daffodil Show in Indianapolis – Color Commentary

Hi, all,
We had a very lovely fall-blooming daffodil show for the ADS Board meeting in Indianapolis this past weekend. 11 Exhibitors staged 107 stems — the room smelled heavenly!

Tazettas were well represented, as well as New Zealand standards in the process of being turned around. In the miniature section, the word of the day was GREEN! Very startling to see in person, and I did not believe cameras in general pick up the color as well as the eye sees it, based on Journal photos – but then I see Tom’s photos just posted, and yes, he did pick up that grayish green. Harold’s seedlings were the star of the day, more on that, and we got to see the tiny ‘Tequila Sunrise’, grown outside in Virginia by Janet Hickman, which gives me hope that we could be successful with it in the slightly more northerly Indiana.

Indiana members had the opportunity to try to get some Paperwhites into bloom with a little workshop at our October meeting, and several of us were successful. Most of our members had never forced paperwhites before. I thought I’d mention it here, not because it’s groundbreaking, but because it can make an excellent meeting idea. USA people, if you ever decide to do this, try Bill Welch (billthebulbbaron.com) because his Autumn Colors made some excellent colorful large planters, I thought. If a more traditional look is wanted, his Autumn Pearl is also excellent. He can probably (read: definitely) get them to you sooner than the Israeli bulbs from Dutch bulb sources.

Kate & Mitch Carney must have ordered a bunch of NZ bulbs this year because he had some crazy out of season standard-size NZ blooms, and a lot of them! Tom Stettner has the photos up in the other thread, but but Mitch & Kate won the best standard daffodil with Bill Welch’s Autumn Pearl, the white ribbon (3 stems of Egmont Snowcloud) and also the Silver Ribbon for the most blue ribbons. He also won the Best Intermediate with Pinsey….basically Mitch and Kate cleaned up with some lovely entries they worked hard to produce for the show. Innisidegen, 8Y-O Scamp, went rogue in Missouri and it bloomed last week instead of its normal spring time, and so Cindy Haeffner was able to exhibit a flower herself, when she only expected to bring her friend, Gary Knehans’, Standard Rose Ribbon seedling, an airy little 8W-O that charmed every one who saw it. Gary says, “The cross is Autumn Colors X ? and the seed came from Bill Welch via The Andersons in Columbia, Missouri. Almost all of the seeds germinated, and this one by far is the most robust grower. Its parents are Autumn Colors X unknown. The marker on pot of bulbs has faded quite a bit, and I can’t make out the pollen parent’s name.” He goes on to say, “Incidentally, the seedling blooms almost exactly four weeks from the day it is repotted in the fall. Miniatus blooms exactly three weeks from repotting.”

Back to Harold’s miniatures. Bob Spotts wrote the show schedule for this show. I needed some serious help, because I had no idea what the possibilities might be. We went back and forth on whether to include the Bankhead (9 stems, 3 divisions) &/or Watrous (12 stems, 3 divisions) in the show schedule at all. He explained to me that entering 9 or 12 miniatures was a long shot because they’d have to be flown in with a long lay over, wait an extra night at the hotel, and if that weren’t enough of an obstacle, the need for 3 different divisions would certainly trip up an exhibitor because the minis tend to bloom in groups based on the Division (actually the section). So we didn’t have it in the schedule, then we did, then we didn’t, and so forth, based on space and pages. Steve Hampson ended up staging a darling little Watrous of FOUR divisions while Harold was in the Exec. Board meeting. Some white, some green, some orange, and it was a sight to behold. By staging so many collections, Harold and Steve Hampson probably gave up the Silver Ribbon (the most blue ribbons in the show), but having the first ever Fall-Blooming Watrous is really a special thing. I hope they agree.

People in California are used to seeing Harold’s miniatures, but to the other 99% of us — WOW! There are simply no words. You know what else people in California can do? They can smell the difference between jonquils and tazettas. Maybe everybody knows this fragrance difference, I think Sara Kinne must because she smells every flower, but I didn’t, so while we were taking down the show, we played “Blind Man’s Guess the Division”. If you guessed right, you got to take the flower home — I know, but small things make me happy. :)

Suzy

3 comments for “Fall-Blooming Daffodil Show in Indianapolis – Color Commentary

  1. This was a wonderful weekend, Suzy. The “show and tell” was really helpful and gave me a chance to appreciate the miniatures in a way I haven’t at the bigger spring shows. You guys did an awesome job hosting this – so thank you. I hope you get some hard-earned rest.

    And thanks for the back story on the show and the entries. I’ll have to look up some jonquils and tazettas to compare scents now!

    — Jolene

    Sent from my iPhone

  2. Actually Suzy the Watrous has to have Five different divisions in it and that is what we were careful to include.

  3. You are absolutely right, Harold — I have the paperwork right here on top of my desk and I should have checked before writing four. My bad. It was spectacular, and I appreciated seeing N. viridiflorus ***and all your little hybrids*** in person more than I can say!
    Suzy

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