The 2018 American Daffodil Society national show was in a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee April 7 and 8 hosted by the Middle Tennessee Daffodil Society. 55 exhibitors put in 1155 entries with a total of 2435 blooms. In the photography section, 36 exhibitors entered 133 photographs. Traveling by air to Tennessee, I was able to bring only some small, portable lights for photographing the ADS award winners, so you’ll see harder shadows and less evenly lit exhibits than I do with floodlights at my local shows. In this post I’ll cover the ADS awards for exhibits with a single standard cultivar and the two awards for photographs. The ADS Silver Ribbon goes to the exhibitor who won the most first place ribbons in horticulture, and it was Janet Hickman with 24. So here are the award-winning exhibits in show report order. If an award is not mentioned, it means it was got given or there were no entries in its class.
The Gold Ribbon is for the best standard daffodil in the show excluding the Container-Grown Section and the ADS Challenge Section. The winner was ‘New Penny’ 3Y-Y exhibited by Karen Cogar.
The Rose Ribbon is for the best standard seedling exhibited by its originator excluding the Container-Grown Section and the ADS Challenge Section. The winner was seedling 08-189 9W-GYR exhibited by Larry Force. It was one of the bloom in his set of three that won the White Ribbon.
The White Ribbon is for the best set of three standard daffodils which was Larry Force’s seedling 08-189 9W-GYR. The flower at the top won the Rose Ribbon.
The Matthew Fowlds Award is for the best named, standard, cyclamineus daffodil in the show. The winner was ‘Sugar Rose’ 6W-GYP exhibited by Karen Cogar.
The Olive W. Lee Trophy is for the best standard in the show from Divisions 5, 6, 7, or 8. The winner was ‘Work of Art’ 7W-P exhibited by Lynn Ladd.
The Best Intermediate Ribbon is for the best intermediate size daffodil in the Intermediates Section or in the standard collections. The winner was ‘Larry’s Force’ 1W-O exhibited by Mary Lou Gripshover.
The Best Intermediate Three-Stem Ribbon is for the best set of three in the Intermediates Section. The winner was ‘Fiery Arrow’ 2O-O exhibited by Larry Force.
The John Van Beck Medal is for the best bloom in the Historic Section. The winner was ‘Golden Spur’ 1Y-Y (1885) exhibited by Mitch and Kate Carney. This bloom was in an exhibit of three stems. Historics are cultivars (i.e. not species) registered or in gardens before 1940.
The Historic Best of Three Ribbon is for the best set of three in the Historic Section. The winner was ‘Golden Spur’ 1Y-Y (1885) exhibited by Mitch and Kate Carney. The flower at the lower right was judged the best bloom in the Historic Section of the show.
The Best Classic Ribbon is for the best bloom in the Classics Section, and the Best Classic Single-Stem Ribbon is for the best single-stem exhibit in the Classics Section. The classics are standard daffodils registered between 1940 and 1969 inclusive. The winner of both ribbons was ‘Highfield Beauty’ 8Y-YYO (1964) exhibited by Michael and Lisa Kuduk.
The Best Classic Three-Stem Ribbon is for the best set of three in the Classics Section. The winner was ‘Titmouse’ 2W-YYO (1958) exhibited by Cindy Haeffner.
The Youth Section is restricted to exhibitors 20 years of age or younger. The Youth Ribbon for the best bloom in the section went to ‘Purbeck’ 3W-YOO exhibited by Jocelyn Varden.
The Youth Best of Three Ribbon is for the best set of three in the Youth Section. The winner was ‘Barrett Browning’ 3WWY-O exhibited by Maria Turner.
The Small Growers Section is for exhibitors who grow 50 or fewer cultivars and/or species. The Small Growers Ribbon is for the best bloom in the section. The winner was ‘Alaskan Forest’ 2W-W exhibited by Anne Cain.
The Standard Container-Grown Ribbon is for the best standard exhibit in the Container-Grown Section. The winner was ‘Red Devon’ 2Y-O exhibited by Allen Haas.
The Miniature Container-Grown Ribbon is for the best miniature (excluding species) exhibit in the Container-Grown Section. The winner was ‘Tête-à-Tête’ 12Y-Y exhibited by Allen Haas.
The Innovation Medal is awarded by a team of hybridizers who look for a daffodil that demonstrates a significant advance in breeding and that they encourage to make publicly available in the near future. The award is not given if the team does not find a sufficiently innovative daffodil. There was a winner this year, and it was seedling 2003-029-1 4Y-YYO by Harold Koopowitz. What you cannot tell from this photograph is that the winner is a miniature daffodil.
The W. A. Bender Ribbon is for the best bloom in the ADS Challenge Section. Blooms in the Section are hybridized by the exhibitor and may be grown in any seen fit (e.g. in a greenhouse) by the exhibitor. Normally, the exhibitor or person putting in the exhibit is the hybridizer (and that was the case this year), but the rules for the ADS Challenge Section allow someone acting with the permission of the hybridizer to grow and enter flowers on the hybridizer’s behalf. The winner this year was seedling W922 1W-O bred and exhibited by Nial Watson.
The Wells Knierim Ribbon is for the best photograph in the Photography Division. The winner was Daffodil Dew exhibited by Anne Owen.
There’s a newly authorized section in the Photography Division for youths, and we have a winner at this year’s national show. The winning entry is Two of My Favorite Things – Legos and Daffodils by Mason McKenzie.
This takes care of the single standard cultivar and photography awards. Another post will cover the standard collections.