A View of the Northern California Daffodil Society’s 2019 March Season

Our Bay Area 2018/2019 Fall weather was exceptionally mild – seemingly there was not enough chill to provide that needed for cultivars’ development and bloom for shows. Until late-January! The lack of overnight chill gave my viridiflorus-infused seedlings the opportunity for entry in the early show at Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore. (I have hybridized daffodils with the green Fall-blooming N. viridiflorus from Spain to get green into their blooms.) Normally, these green-eyed seedlings bloom in the first two weeks in February and are nearly bloomed out by the March shows. But, this Spring they were delayed two weeks by the hesitant coolness of our Fall. They were ready provide the color and quantity needed for a successful first show on the first weekend in March. Anna Fine brought a lovely group of blooms from her and Nick Swanson’s (her grandson) gardens and captured the awards for Small Growers and Youth. Steve Hampson, from Southern California, traveled the considerable distance with Harold Koopowitz and Marilynn Howe. His blooms dominated the collection classes for Standards. Harold and Marilynn quietly staged an entire section of outstanding Miniatures. All of their entries were blooms from their own breeding! Harold won the Miniature Gold with an exquisite Miniature double. Kirby Fong produced an impressive double from New Zealand and captured the award for the best Standard bloom. The outstanding show entry was (in my opinion) a vase of three ‘Ice Follies’ 2W-Y brought by Mary Roach for her neighbor, Karen Vogel-Hayes. Clearly the best of this cultivar I’ve seen!

The rainstorms began in late January and continued through February and March. Normal flowers began their blooming for the second show of the season, at Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys. I entered enough blooms to assure a satisfactory show. Kirby Fong’s blooms began their season; they were impressive but limited in number. (In my opinion, the overall results in classes for collections showed again that the best of my home-grown seedlings don’t measure up to the beauty of Kirby’s stable of show winners from around the world!) Rosemary Scholz, a talented Judge from Escalon in the California Valley, brought and entered blooms despite a threatening storm. Nancy Tackett and Ben Blake’s home is on a north-facing slope in Martinez and as usual the majority of their blooms were late. Purnima Sreenivasan, our upcoming Student Judge, brought flowers from San Ramon and took part in judging the show. The early Spring weather of wind, rain and occasional snow in the Sierra foothills had been unmerciful, hardly clearing for the Show. As a result, local growers had few flowers. Nevertheless, Bert Elings, from Angels Camp, brought some deserving blooms and won top awards in the Historic and Classic Sections. On the Miniatures side, Jon Kawaguchi had returned from his previous weekend of baseball watching in Phoenix. He entered and won all the larger collection classes. Kirby Fong won the Best Miniature, besting Jon. Members of the Calaveras County Garden Club enhanced the showroom by displaying lovely artistic arrangements! Jan Moyers, our NCDS President from San Rafael, introduced ‘Kookii,’ her newly acquired Yorkshire puppy! What a treat!

At the conclusion of the Murphys Show, there was a two-week gap before Maria Krenek’s late show at the River Lodge Conference Center in Fortuna. This was a prime time for daffodil bloom, given the two-weeks delay in the season’s start. Kirby Fong’s blooms were now in full stride. He made the five+ hour drive from Livermore to Fortuna on Thursday, giving him the entire Friday to stage his blooms for the Saturday morning judging. My own flowers were also in full bloom. But I made my usual error – refrigerating blooms without making plans. It’s easier to cut and transport one’s flowers; making decisions on staging at the show! That works when you have a limited number of blooms. It also works if you have sufficient time at the show! The Friday traffic was foul. I encountered numerous delays on the highway; the normal five-hour drive turned into seven and one-half! Once at the show, my load was simply excessive! And I suffered the deserved result. Even with the help of Jan Moyers, I could not adequately select and stage my overly numerous blooms! (Note to self: do preliminary staging at home!) Kirby’s blooms were immaculate. Though I won the Best Standard with a Havens double, Kirby’s collection classes were superb and probably unbeatable! MacKenna Brown won the Youth Award and Cristina Kosaok took the Small Growers Ribbon.

The Fortuna showroom was filled with gorgeous exhibits of artistic arrangements. The local camera club covered a wall with exhibits of their art. As well, there was a notable exhibit of local paintings of daffodils and the lovely northwest California countryside. A memorable daffodil show – don’t miss it!

The winners of major awards in the three shows are viewable on Daffnet in Kirby Fong’s comprehensive show summaries. (Scroll back to the appropriate dates.)