2023 Fortuna Show – ADS Award Winners

The Fortuna Garden Club held its 46th annual daffodil show March 25-26, 2023. Fortuna is near the coast in Northern California about a five hour drive north of San Francisco. Fifteen exhibitors put in 139 exhibits with a total of 366 stems. We’ll go through the ADS award winners in the order in which they’re listed in the show report. If an ADS award is not mentioned, it means there were no entries in the eligible classes for that award or that none of the entries was worthy of the award.

The Gold Ribbon is awarded to the best standard daffodil in the show, excluding the Container-Grown Section. The winner was ‘River Queen’ 2W-W exhibited by Kirby Fong.

The Miniature Gold Ribbon is awarded to the best miniature daffodil in the show, excluding the Container-Grown Section. The winner was ‘Sundial’ 7Y-Y exhibited by Jon Kawaguchi.

The Miniature Gold Ribbon is awarded to the best miniature daffodil seedling exhibited by its originator in the show, excluding the Container-Grown Section. The winner was seedling JBK 18-02-01 10Y-Y exhibited by Jon Kawaguchi.

The White Ribbon is awarded to the best set of three standard daffodils in the show. The winner was ‘Fencourt Jewel’ 8W-P exhibited by Kirby Fong.

The Intermediates Section and standard collections are the areas examined for the best intermediate daffodil. An intermediate daffodils is a standard daffodil in Royal Horticultural Society divisions 1, 2, 3, 4, or 11 having a diameter typically greater than 50 mm and up to 80 mm. The winner was ‘Mighty Might’ 1YYG-Y exhibited by Jon Kawaguchi.

The best bloom in the Historics Section was ‘Camellia’ 4Y-Y (1930) exhibited by Carla Peterson. An historic daffodil is a cultivar registered or in gardens before 1940.

The best set of three in the Historics Section was Rugulosus 7Y-Y (1819) exhibited by Nancy Kirtley.

The Classics Section is for standard daffodils registered between 1940 and 1969 inclusive. The best bloom in the section was the middle bloom in a set of three. It’s ‘Avalanche’ 8W-Y (1955) exhibited by Natalya Burke. ‘Avalanche’ is one of the odd cultivars that qualifies both as historic and classic because it was in gardens in 1906 but not registered until 1955.

The Classics Section has an award not only for the best bloom in the section but for the best single stem exhibit in the section. Sometimes the best single stem exhibit is also the best bloom, and sometimes (as in this show) it isn’t. Anyway, the best single-stem exhibit was ‘Ceylon’ 2Y-O (1943) exhibited by Carla Peterson.

Here’s the best 3-stem exhibit in the Classics Section. It’s ‘Avalanche’ 8W-Y (1955) exhibited by Natalya Burke. The middle bloom was the best bloom in the section.

The Youth Section is restricted to exhibitors 20 years of age or younger. The best bloom in the section was ‘Merels Favourite’ 2W-Y exhibited by Eden Benevidez.

The Small Growers Section is restricted to exhibitors who grow 50 or fewer cultivars and/or species of daffodils. The best bloom in this section was ‘Frosty Snow’ 2W-WWY exhibited by Donna Farris.

The Container-Grown Section has classes for standard, miniatures, and species. Though not especially floriferous and very impressive looking, the winner in the standards class was ‘Cornish King’ 1W-Y exhibited by Terri Emmons.

The best collection of 5 historic daffodils consisted of:
Back: ‘Samite’ 1W-W (1930), ‘Cantatrice’ 1W-W (1936), ‘Beryl’ 6W-YYO (1907);
Front: ‘Farewell’ 2W-Y (1938), ‘Beersheba’ 1W-W (1923).
The exhibitor was Kirby Fong.

The Purple Ribbon is awarded to the best collection of 5 standard daffodils. In this case it was the pink collection consisting of:
Back: ‘Fencourt Jewel’ 8W-P, ‘Jeu d’Amour’ 2W-YPP, ‘Alto’ 2W-P;
Front: ‘Entrepreneur’ 2W-GPP, ‘Birky’ 2W-P.

The Bozievich collection class calls for 12 standard daffodils from at least 4 RHS divisions. The flowers in the winning collection are:
Top row: ‘Banker’ 2Y-O, ‘Alto’ 2W-P, ‘Cameo Joy’ 2Y-R, ‘The Expert’ 1WWY-W;
Middle row: ‘Onya’ 2W-P, ‘Cape Cornwall’ 2Y-YYO, ‘Orange Trim’ 3W-YYO, ‘Causeway Sunset’ 2Y-R;
Bottom row: ‘Rapture’ 6Y-Y, ‘Great Joy’ 2W-P, ‘Ballistic’ 4Y-O, ‘Commodore Perry’ 1W-GPP.
The exhibitor was Kirby Fong.

The Quinn collection class calls for 24 standard daffodils from at least 5 RHS divisions. the flowers in the winning collection are:
Top row: ‘Qiyanna Raine’ 4Y-O, ‘River Queen’ 2W-W, ‘Online’ 2Y-Y, ‘Fencourt Jewel’ 8W-P, ‘Round Oak’ 1Y-Y, ‘La Delicatesse’ 2W-W;
2nd row: ‘Kings Heath’ 3W-W, ‘Cape Cornwall’ 2Y-YYO, ‘Barbara Ann’ 2W-W, ‘Janet’s Gold’ 2Y-Y, ‘The Expert’ 1WWY-W, ‘Causeway Sunset’ 2Y-R;
3rd row: ‘Wendy Gillings’ 3Y-R, ‘Orange Trim’ 3W-YYO, ‘Ballistic’ 4Y-O, ‘Eagle Lake’ 2W-Y, ‘Green Eyed Beauty’ 3Y-YYO, ‘Gay Tabor’ 4W-O;
Bottom row: ‘Foundling’ 6W-P, ‘Yellow Satin’ 2Y-Y, ‘Birky’ 2W-P, ‘Kokopelli’ 7Y-Y, ‘Winter Wind’ 2W-W, ‘Rapture’ 6Y-Y.
‘River Queen’ in the top row won the Gold Ribbon. ‘Green Eyed Beauty’ in the third row what would be called in overseas show the reserve champion. The exhibitor was Kirby Fong.

The Bankhead collection class calls for 9 miniature daffodils from at least 3 RHS divisions. Flowers in the winning exhibit are:
Back row: ‘Gee Willikers’ 8W-W, ‘Crevette’ 8W-O, ‘Tete Boucle’ 4Y-Y;
Middle row: ‘White Petticoat’ 10W-W, ‘Golden Quince’ 12Y-Y, ‘Elka’ 1W-W;
Front row: ‘Englander’ 6Y-Y, ‘Snipe’ 6W-W, ‘Heart to Heart’ 7Y-Y.
The exhibitor was Jon Kawaguchi.

The Koopowitz collection class calls for 24 miniature daffodils from at least 5 RHS divisions. Flowers in the winning collection are:
Back row: ‘Golden Quince’ 12Y-Y, ‘Twinkling Yellow’ 7Y-Y, ‘Crevette’ 8W-O, N. fernandesii 13Y-Y, ‘Chiquitita’ 7Y-Y, ‘Itsy Bitsy Splitsy’ 11aY-O, ‘Gee Willikers’ 8W-W;
3rd row: ‘Tiny Bubbles’ 12Y-Y, ‘Sundial’ 7Y-Y, ‘Tete Boucle’ 4Y-Y, ‘Romantique’ 5Y-Y, ‘Angel’s Whisper’ 5Y-Y, ‘Little Rusky’ 7Y-GYO;
2nd row: ‘Heart to Heart’ 7Y-Y, ‘Little Darling’ 1Y-Y, ‘Oxford Gold’ 10Y-Y, ‘Little Surprise’ 6Y-Y, ‘Pequenita’ 7Y-Y, ‘White Petticoat’ 10W-W;
Front row: ‘Gipsy Vale’ 1W-W, JBK 18-02-01 10Y-Y (N. bulb. sbsp. obesus x N. bulb. var. tenuifolius), ‘Snipe’ 6W-W, ‘Englander’ 6Y-Y, N. cuatrecasasii 13Y-Y.
The ‘Sundial’ in the 3rd row won the Miniature Gold Ribbon. The seedling in the front row won the Miniature Rose Ribbon. The exhibitor was Jon Kawaguchi.

There are classes for 3, 6, and 12 miniatures hybridized and originated by the exhibitor. The winning exhibit in the class for 3 consisted of:
Left to right: JBK 13-12-03 10Y-Y (Duncan 02/148 x Giant Clone), JBK 17-03-01 10Y-Y (N. bulb. var. filifolius x N. bulb. var. serotinus), JBK 14-01-01 10Y-Y (N. bulbocodium x N. bulb. var. nivalis).
The exhibitor was Jon Kawaguchi.

And that concludes the picture of the ADS award winning exhibits. The ADS Silver Ribbon is awarded to the exhibitor who wins the most blue ribbons in the horticulture classes, and it was Kirby Fong with 55 blues.