Hi all,
I wondered if anybody else thinks that the time frame for the Classics section of daffodil shows should be expanded from 1969 to 1979? The reason I ask is because I’m culling bulbs now so I’m thinking about it, and they’re asking for motions for the fall board meeting.
Some of the flowers that would be impacted by the decision include:
Redhill, Bravoure, Fragrant Rose, Gold Convention, Bell Song, Bittern, Brackenhurst, Gull, Kedron, Loch Lundie, Misty Glen, Lapwing, Purbeck, Indian Maid, Modulux, Glenfarclas, and Bee Mabley….well and a whole lot of others!
Thoughts?
Suzy
When the span for the classics was originally considered, one of the reasons for cutting it off at 1969 instead of 1979 was that the newer cultivars were more likely to beat the older cultivars that we wanted to display in daffodil shows. People might stop growing and showing cultivars that hardly ever won. The prime example was ‘Rapture’ registered in 1976. You can buy and plant dozens of them each year out of which you’re likely to find a nearly perfect one that could win Best Classic. That would have subverted the intent of the Classics Section.
That’s it? Nobody else? That’s the only reason? LOL! Not much of one. Using that theory, that you can buy the Classic Ribbon every year, then Ice Wings should win the Classic every year. But it doesn’t.
Here are additional arguments: A well grown Bravoure (blooms at the same time as Rapture) purchased from Holland would probably beat Rapture.
Any mid-season , mid late season or late shows would not have many Raptures entered.
There is a whole world out there, and if an exhibitor sees a flower in the Classics section which would beat theirs, they are free to move it to single stems or a collection. It doesn’t *have* to be shown in Classics.
Beryl wins a lot of Historic ribbons. You might be able to buy Beryl from Holland. Beryl is a great flower. Same exact statements can be made with Avalanche, which shows as both a Classic AND an Historic on Daffseek!
Is anybody in favor of such a motion? Kathleen Simpson is calling for them and I want to get it in as soon as possible.
Suzy
I am opposed to the proposal. Expanding the date range encourages newer flowers to be shown, as newer flower forms will be preferred by ADS judges as per the norm. The intention of the original proposal by Loyce McK. (I was “enlisted” to bring forward her motion to the Board) was to ensure older flowers would continue to be grown thus not lost to commerce nor broader gardening – awarding ribbons to encourage gardeners to keep old varieties in their gardens was considered of critical importance. An additional 10 years of more advanced-bred flowers will serve to push the earlier decade flowers out of consideration for single ribbons and collections. They will fall into a no-man’s-land of Not-Historic and Useless-Classic. Further this loss of reason to show older flowers will then diminish the breadth of flower forms on the show floor and the public thus not see a broad display of hybridizing history. A compromise would be to codify a decade-segmentation within the overall category of “Classic.”
Okay, then I won’t put it in… but as far as I can see, there simply aren’t all that many standard flowers from the 1950s, anyway, to be bumped (bumped from the show bench, I mean).
On the other hand, we (I at least) are relegating the prolific 1970s to no man’s land by getting rid of a heck of a lot of so-so flowers which have been superseded.
It doesn’t matter to me, I just thought it was time, and every decade – 2020, then 2030 -should move up the Classic dates. I was looking at my culls, and they’re all 1970s flowers and realized I don’t like most of them anymore, even if they were eligible for the Classics section, so perhaps it’s for the best.
Thanks Kirby and Linda,
Suzy
May be it time for a new section ” Former Modern” with a moving date to
accommodate “New Older flowers” as they reach maturity and avoid a no mans
land of the future!
Just a thought from across the pond.
Regards to All,
Ian
Perhaps a new section could be created for the epoch after Classics. Maybe not now, but eventually. It would be good to have an incentive for the best of them to be preserved as the newer cultivars supersede them.
I agree with Sara Van Beck. Suzy, Rapture wins more blue ribbons than
Bravoure, by a long shot.
Ian has a good idea when he said add a new section with the daffodils from
1970 to 2000. Heck, it’s still showing daffodils over 20 years old. I’d
call them the “Gold” or “Platinum” group.
Clay
I like the idea of ‘eventually’ creating a new group of post-Classic daffs, for the 1970’s and some additional decades. But it feels premature to me to do that now. Something to keep in mind for the future, however. Personally, I have much more success in my Minnesota garden with historics and classics than I do the more modern cultivars. I have come to the conclusion that, at least for me, if the cultivar has survived for that long, it’s more likely to survive for me, that seems to have been the case.
I like the category of “post Classic”. That’s a cool category
f