Kiwi very early Paperwhites

Dscf0103Always  amongst  the  earliest  daffs  to  start  the  season  are  a  line  of  very  white  paperwhites  with  an  interesting  origin  .Tazetta  maestro  Bill  Welch  ,  Bill  the  bulb  Baron  ,  sent  some  selected  paperwhite  seed  to  John  Hunter  ,  in  Nelson  NZ  .John  sowed the  seed and  eventually  flowered  about  600  different  seedlings  .A  few  years  on  and  John  marked  out  and  selected  what  he considered  the  best  seedlings  ,  from  a  line  that  had  the  usual  expected  variations  in  size  ,  shape  ,  stem  length  and  strength  and  a  little  variation  in  flowering  times .  The  common  characteristic  was  that  they  were  all  very  white   – no  hint  of  creams  in  the  perianth  or  any  colour in  the  cups  .Cup  shape  did  vary  a  little  from  straight  tubes  to  flatter  ,  flared  and serrated styles  .John  then  generously  distributed  the  remainder  to several  other  growers  that  he  thought  might  find  them  interesting  as  possible  early cutflowers  .I  recieved  quite  a  few  as  did  Diane  and  Peter  Irwin  .

After  growing  them  on for  several  seasons  ,  The  Irwins  made  several  selections  that  they  thought  were  outstanding  and  after  they  had  clumped  up  nicely  ,  registered  3  under  the  name  of  the  seed  raiser  ,  Bill  Welch  .They  have  almost  finished  flowering  for  this  season  but  I  picked  a  few  as  I  think  they  are very  attractive  . Here  are the  Irwin  selections  .

 

 

BIGGAR   ,  one  of  the earliest  ,  good  stem  length  ,  open  slightly  serrated cup,  round  ,  mid  sized  flowers  .

BIGGAR

BIGGAR

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CORMISTON,   the  biggest  flowers  ,  mid  season  ,  again  a  slightly  open  ,  lightly  serrated  cup  .

CORMISTON

CORMISTON

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PENTLAND  FIRTH  ,perhaps  a  little  rounder  ,  again  good  size flowers  , thick  stem  .

PENTLAND  FIRTH

PENTLAND FIRTH

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All  are  very  white  and  have  good  flower  numbers  per  stem  , which  did  vary  quite  a  lot  amongst  the  big  group .  A  few  more  variations  ,  –  some  very  angular  ,  a  double  flower   (  the  only  one  on  the  head  )  and  some  very  straight  sided  cups  .All  have  the  very  strong  and  distinctive tazetta  fragrance  .

Variations  from  the  unselected  seedlings .

Variations from the unselected seedlings .

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2 comments for “Kiwi very early Paperwhites

  1. Hi All,

    Nice to see some more flowers from New Zealand. I have seen an increasing number of bunches in the florists in the last few weeks. A number of bulbocodiums are flowering at the moment brightening up some cold mornings. These are mainly white and cream bred from B Romieuxii, I will post some photographs over the weekend.

    The Northern daffodil Club will hold their first table show on Monday June 15th, it will be interesting to see what flowers will be available.

    Robin Hill

     

  2. Thanks, John, and this is a reminder to anyone, anywhere in the world, who wants FREE seeds of my highly diverse colorful Autumn Colors tazetta strain, please email me at  title=

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