2020 Livermore Show – Standard Daffodil Awards

The 2020 Livermore daffodil show was the 50th show held in the San Francisco Bay Area by the Northern California Daffodil Society. It was at Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore February 29 and March 1. This was unusually early because the national show the second weekend in March forced the Murphys show to the first weekend in March which in turn forced the Livermore show to the zeroth weekend in March. Nevertheless, exhibitors brought enough flowers to make this a respectable show. There were 289 entries by 16 exhibitors for a total of 674 stems. The ADS Silver Ribbon is awarded to the exhibitor who wins the most blue ribbons. In this show, it was Bob Spotts with 47 blue ribbons. Following are the show results for standard daffodils in the order in which the awards are listed in the official show report. If an ADS award is not mentioned, it means there were no entries, the award was not given, or the award was not offered.

The Gold Ribbon is awarded to the best standard daffodil in the show excluding the container-grown classes. The winner was ‘I Love You’ 2W-W exhibited by Steve Hampson.

The Rose Ribbon is for the best standard seedling in the show excluding the container-grown classes. The winner was seedling X251 3W-GYO exhibited by Bob Spotts.

The White Ribbons is for the best set of three standard daffodils in the show. The winner was ‘Pacific Rim’ 2Y-YYR exhibited by Kirby Fong.

The Best Intermediate Ribbon is awarded to the best set of three intermediate cultivars in the Intermediate Section, the Youth or Small Growers Sections, or any standard collection. The winner was ‘Warm Day’ 2O-O exhibited by Steve Hampson.

The Best Intermediate 3-Stem Ribbon is awarded to the best set of three intermediate cultivars in the Intermediate Section or in standard collection classes of sets of three. The winner was ‘Chile Verde’ 3Y-GYO exhibited by Bob Spotts.

The Best Historic Ribbon is awarded to the best pre-1940 cultivar in the Historic Section. The winner was ‘Saint Keverne’ 2Y-Y (1934) exhibited by Kirby Fong. Historic daffodil cultivars are those registered before 1940.

The Historic Best Set of Three Ribbon is awarded to the best three stems of one pre-1940 cultivar in the Historic Section. The winner was ‘Saint Keverne’ 2Y-Y (1934) exhibited by Kirby Fong.

There is a ribbon for the best bloom in the Classic Section and another ribbon for the best single-stem exhibit in the Classic Section. Both were won by ‘Tahiti’ 4Y-O (1956) exhibited by Kirby Fong. The classics are standard cultivars registered between 1940 and 1969.

There was only one 3-stem entry in the Classic Section, and the judges may have been somewhat sentimental as these ‘Ice Follies’ 2W-W (1953) were grown by the late Bill Welch whose memorial service was on February 29, the same day as the daffodil show. These and other daffodils from his field were displayed at this show.

ADS second vice president Janet Hickman came from Virginia to visit her grandchildren in California and entered some daffodils grown by her grandchildren. The best bloom in the Youth Section was this ‘Bravoure’ 1W-Y exhibited by Julia Hickman.

The best 3-stem exhibit in the Youth Section was ‘Avalanche’ 8W-Y exhibited by Julia Hickman.

The Small Growers Section is for exhibitors who grow 50 or fewer different cultivar and/or species. The best bloom in this section was ‘Lady Diana’ 2W-W exhibited by Anna Fine.

The ribbon for the best container-grown standards went to this pot of ‘Saint Keverne’ 2Y-Y exhibited by Steve Hampson.

The ribbon for the best container-grown species went to this pot of N. obvallaris 13Y-Y exhibited by Steve Hampson.

The Purple Ribbon is for the best collection of 5 standards. In this case the winner also received the Intermediate Collection of 5 Ribbon. The flowers in the collection are:
Back: ‘Runkerry’ 4W-P, ‘Rimski’ 2W-YWP, ‘Brooke Ager’ 2W-P;
Front: ‘Warm Day’ 2O-O, ‘Biometrics’ 2Y-O.
The exhibitor was Steve Hampson.

The Red-White-Blue Ribbon is for the best collection of 5 American-bred standard daffodils. Flowers in the winning collection are:
Back: 89 7W-GWW, 991 7Y-GYO, 1023 7W-GGO;
Front: 1056 4Y-O, 1066 5WWG-GYO.
The exhibitor was Bob Spotts. The numbers are seedling numbers, as none of these flowers has been registered.

The Bozievich class calls for a collection of 12 different standard daffodils from at least 4 Royal Horticultural Society divisions. Flowers in the winning collection are:
Top row: ‘Gympie’ 1Y-Y, ‘Banker’ 2Y-O, ‘Version’ 2W-P, ‘Ombersley’ 1Y-Y;
Middle row: ‘Pima’ 8Y-Y, ‘Maria Pia’ 11aY-R, ‘Round Oak’ 1Y-Y, ‘Motmot’ 8Y-R;
Bottom row: ‘Monsal’ 1Y-Y, ‘Brooke Ager’ 2W-P, ‘Biometrics’ 2Y-O, ‘Iced Lemon’ 3Y-Y.
The exhibitor was Steve Hampson.

The Havens class calls for a collection of 12 different standard daffodils from not less than 3 divisions of RHS divisions 5 through 10. The flowers in the winning collection are:
Top row: Koopowitz X-23 7YYW-W, ‘Hoopoe’ 8Y-O, ‘Wintersun’ 8W-Y, ‘Motmot’ 8Y-R;
Middle row: ‘Ihakara Goldie’ 8Y-Y, ‘Pima’ 8Y-Y, Vinisky V96-33-17 7Y-R, ‘Skater’s Waltz’ 6Y-Y;
Bottom row: ‘Rapture’ 6Y-Y, ‘Winter Waltz’ 6W-P, ‘Churchfield Bells’ 5Y-Y, ‘Kaykay’ 7W-Y.
The exhibitor was Steve Hampson.

The Throckmorton class calls for 15 different standard daffodils with 15 different RHS classifications. A classification is the division number plus the color code. Flowers in the winning collection are:
Back row: 14081 3Y-YYR, 6150 3W-GYO, ‘Mariemont’ 1Y-O, 1630 3W-GYO,3714 2Y-O, ‘Mesa Verde’ 12G-GGY, 2632 2Y-GOO;
Front row: ‘Rapture’ 6Y-Y, X251 3W-GYO, ‘Hermann’ 1Y-Y, 1640 3Y-GYR, 3458 3W-GYR, 8384 4Y-R, ‘Storyteller’ 8Y-O.
The exhibitor was Bob Spotts.

The Quinn class calls for 24 different standard daffodils from at least 5 RHS divisions. Flowers in the winning collection  are:
Top row: ‘Fencourt Jewel’ 8W-P, ‘Tao’ 3Y-O, ‘Oops’ 2W-Y, ‘Maria Pia’ 11aY-R, ‘Version’ 2W-P, ‘Round Oak’ 1Y-Y;
3rd row: ‘Charlie Connor’ 1Y-O, ‘Warm Welcome;’ 2W-GWP, ‘Crowndale’ 4Y-O, ‘Chanson’ 1W-P, ‘Ombersley’ 1Y-Y, ‘Reg Nicholl’ 2Y-YYR;
2nd row: ‘Debbie Joan’ 2W-GWR, ‘Banker’ 2Y-O, ‘I Love You’ 2W-W, ‘Gympie’ 1Y-Y, Koopowitz 06-002/4 7G-GGW, ‘Iced Lemon’ 3Y-Y;
Bottom row: ‘Nob Hill’ 2YYW-Y, ‘Brooke Ager’ 2W-P, ‘Saint Keverne’ 2Y-Y, ‘Lilac Charm’ 6W-GPP, Watson W322 11aY-O, ‘Winter Watz’ 6W-P.
The exhibitor was Steve Hampson.

And that completes the list of award-winning standard daffodils. I’ll list the miniature award-winning daffodils in another posting.