The activities of two persons emerged as notable during our Northern California Daffodil Society show season: Susan Duncan and Merle Reuser. Susan (and husband Ron) have settled in Reno, Nevada. She has been planting and growing daffodils there for six years! Merle, living in Santa Rosa, California has been giving daffodils away for 20 years!
In 2018, Susan originally contacted Nancy Tackett for information about the American Daffodil Society (Nancy is the ADS President). Nancy told Susan about NCDS during their discussions of ADS. Susan came to our Shows at Alden Lane Nursery (Livermore) and Ironstone Vineyards (Murphys) to learn about what NCDS is doing. She called Nancy and me later to invite us to see the narcissus blooms at their home in the high desert. Susan and Ron will be driving to Minneapolis at the first of May to attend the 2019 ADS Daffodil Convention there. She’ll also use the visit to enroll in her first of three judging classes offered there. As well, she’ll take some blooms to enter in the National Show!
This year, Merle has reemphasized the daffodil journey he is on. In 1999, he met with a well-respected 100 year-old lady from Cloverdale and agreed to continue her life-long task of giving daffodils to people in memory of their service to others. Since that time, Merle and his group of supporters have given away over 230,000 blooms – for example, a bouquet of 16 daffodils made to each of four former students at Cloverdale High School who died from cancer while attending there. They plant over 10,000 bulbs each year and average giving away over 25,000 blooms yearly. They intend to reach 50,000 donations yearly in five years! Merle and his group have made Sonoma County into the Daffodil Giveaway Capital of the World!