1939 Movie of a Daffodil show at the California Nursery Company in Niles (Fremont, CA)

I volunteer at the California Nursery Historical Park in Fremont, California. The California Nursery company was in business from 1884 until 1970. From 1932 to 1970 they held bulb shows in their Show Gardens.  The shows drew thousands of visitors who came to see: Daffodils, tulips, irises, other flowering ‘bulbs,’ and flowering trees and shrubs.

Last year, we had many movies scanned in by the California Revealed program. This movie is one that includes a daffodil show. I’ve updated the description of the daffodils mentioned.

Flower Arrangements by Frances Roeding, Daffodil test garden, Golden State Rose

https://californiarevealed.org/islandora/object/cavpp%3A128607?fbclid=IwAR2-YTji_RE9EvJ_xeopeGu0Y8bipEUIyiwLnfB7Rhm7UpcfH79OPb2nKgs

You can change the settings to go 3x speed.

I’m curious to know whether these varieties are still available or if there is anything that would interest a non-daffodil person or a daffodil person.

Janet

 

4 comments for “1939 Movie of a Daffodil show at the California Nursery Company in Niles (Fremont, CA)

  1. Nice post!  It would be great if the film could be “cleaned up” and color corrected at some point.  It may be valuable in identifying Historic varieties.

  2. That’s good to know. We will be getting the source files in a little while and can start to try color-correcting.

    Are the varieties listed still all available? Is there a master list of daffodil varieties that are still grown and ones that are not? I would be interested in knowing which of the varieties that are listed are no longer grown.

    Here’s the description from the movie:

    Daffodil Test Garden showing more than 100 varieties; Cleopatra Daffodil — A very late flowering variety; Tresserve Daffodil; Hera — A late flowering White Daffodil; Tulles Hostilius — Jonquil Hybrid with several flowers on each stem, Fragrant; John Evelyn — One of the Newest Varieties; Giant Killer Daffodil; Alasnam — Note 3 flowers first year from our Double-Nose Bulbs; Jonquila Simplex — Very fragrant little Jonquil; Tresserve — Larger and later than King Alfred; Van Waveren’s Giant — Flowers Four and Five Inches Across; Eve — A new White Trumpet Daffodil; Mrs. Backhouse — The Pink Daffodil; Sylvanite — Remains in flower longer than most large Daffodils; Lovenest — Another “Pink” Daffodil; Milford-Haven — A new short Trumpet Daffodil; President Carnot — White Trumpet Daffodil; Francisca Drake; Croesus; Gallipoli; Lady Moore — A Barrii Narcissus; Laurens Koster — A Poetaz Narcissus; Firetail — A good red cup Narcissus; Queen of Spain — Rock Garden Daffodil; Hoop Petticoat Daffodil — Four to Eight Inches Tall; Tulip Clusiana — Candy Stick or Lady Tulip; Tulip Greigii — Six Inches Across; Iris Puila — A Dwarf Sort for Rock Gardens; Morea Glaucopis — Peacock Iris from South Africa; Gladiolus Tristis — Night Scented Gladiolus; Yellow Queen Dutch Iris; White Excelsior Dutch Iris; Adrian Backer Iris; Violet Queen Iris; White Flowering Quince — Blooms twice each spring; Azalea Mme. Van Der Cruyssen; Azalea vervaeneana Alba — A rare variety;

  3. Most of those still exist, some I don’t recognize.  Search on Daffseek to get more details on them.

  4. I’m pretty new to this site, so it’s good to see that there is something like Daffseek. I’ll check it out!

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