For The Bench
215 Cultivars Listed
On any given day any daffodil bloom even the most prosaic, if perfect and poised enough, can take a ribbon at a Daffodil show. Here are some with proven track records, or those that show a perfection that makes them likely competitors. Husbandry, strategy and staging is up to you.
8 W-O
Bringing more rock and roll glamour to the modern New Zealand garden party, Abraxis is a scented, broad petaled, and wavy tazetta hybrid dressed in white and orange. Early to arrive to the fete. From Grand Monarch.
4 W-Y
A recently introduced double that is most like a lotus blossom when it opens a mild- yellow with an alluring symmetry. As Ambon matures into clear white and yellow it gets wide and wild. You will easily be able to select a very stunning bloom. Best as a stem, in the landscape Ambon blooms a bit in the leaves. This Daffodil is named for a city in the Moluccas in Indonesia, once a Dutch colony.
3 W-YYO
All the people are waiting for Angel Face,
She said she'd meet them down at their favorite place.
Dressed in yellow satin, white linen and lace,
She stood so high with a smile on her face.
2 W-GWW
A stunning all white large cup. More an ivory color than a clear white with a profound green eye. Possesses a regal, royal wave in the cup for all that pass by. Strength in numbers. Daughter of the widely grown Misty Glen.
3 Y-R
Rounded profile, the small cup is richly colored and broad. Towards maturity the segments of Arid Plains blanch from solid yellow to partially white. From Brian Duncan.
2 W-W
A flower so sought after that we can't keep it in house. Large perfect all white large cup, Ashton Wold has a place in the landscape and on the bench.
3 W-Y
Astrid's Memory: White and Yellow small cupped show daffodil from Clive Postles.
4 Y-O
Ballistic. Bright perfectly formed, well structured double with 4 inch blooms. Full throated Kiwi style from New Zealand. There is a lot of crowd swell for this daffodil, it has a very bright future in the commercial market. Photographs don't do Ballistic justice. You will so want this daffodil when you see it. We did.
2 Y-O
An older orange large cupped daffodil, Banker is dependable and easily produces a flawless, substantial, and winning bloom.
2 W-WWP
The daffodil diggers of North Holland consider themselves to be tough guys. It is never good to be "soft" and they will let you know it -- early and often. But here is the softest colored pink cup ever, and where does it come from ? But straight out of tough guy land. I think our florist friends will swoon and soften for Beau Beauté. She is a bit like High Society that has completed a course of anger management. New introduction from Carlos van der Veek.
2 W-YYP
New Introduction, White and yellow, pink-rimmed large cupped daffodil for competition from Brian Duncan.
2 W-P
Slender snouted and flared in pale pink, Beautiful Lady is ready-made for competition and vase-eye-candy. A newer Duncan seedling from the greatly missed Chanson.
3 W-GYY
Burgerbrug is a town in north Holland that is a hotbed of daffodil culture. Burgerbrug translates loosely to "The Citizen's Bridge". Unless you go down to the actual bridge, which is a kind of floating, single-lane drawbridge contraption, then you are in the neighborhood of "Burgervlotbrug" - The Citizen's Floating Bridge. Not for the faint of heart.
This is Carlo's encomium to his hometown and I am genuinely stunned at its beauty, an overlapping perianth update to Queen of the North, or something along those lines. New Introduction in 2023. Good stock.
6 W-O
Bell Fly is a recent posthumous introduction from Walter Blom, and what a high-spirited cyclamineus it is. Dare we say that it is broader, longer and more zippy than daffodil Iwona that we love so much ? Not pink, but orange cupped. An early dwarf, vigorous. We are unable to determine the origin of the name. Limited stock.
3 Y-YYO
My Best Friend has a round pale primrose moon face and thin orange ring on his very round corona. Such are the bonds of friendship. A real bench burner. By Clive Postles. Only a handful available.
4 W-Y
This recent Mark Vandervliet double is makes a really perplexingly big bulb. The double flower is equally as big and supremely well organized and detailed. Like many sumo-sized doubles she blooms in the leaves a bit but on a plenty strong stem , so much the better for the vase, the bench, and the border. I have taken ribbons with this bloom . I would like to be greeted in my garden by a platoon of Big Girls, but alas small numbers yet.
2 W-P
White and pink large cupped daffodil for competition from Clive Postles. Very Limited.Exercise care with your handwriting : not to be confused with Binkie one of the very first reverse bi-colors.
4 W-O
Double daffodils are not the most ribbon-winning bunch: only the most rounded and orderly need apply. Blossom Lady, originating from New Zealand, is definitely a ribbon candidate: bright; colorful; well-formed; well-rounded. Way back in the family tree is the historic double Mary Copeland. Extremely limited.
11a Y-O
It's hard to fill a truck selling Boslowick, he is so perfect, so broad faced and calming that you only need one bloom to make your day. But please, take two bulbs, or three ! A very well ordered and well behaved split cup, with a profound color. A good grower for us, a perfect thing like most things Ron Scamp. See also Jabberwocky. Limited availability.
2 Y-GYY
An easy going monochromatic yellow coloration with a well-rounded perianth, Broadwalk Beauty is show daffodil that makes it easy to find a consistent and flawless bloom. Hard to find mostly because my fingers type "boardwalk" instead of "broadwalk." Perhaps some reference to the catwalk on the fashion show runway: Broadwalk Beauty is very tall like Jerry Hall. Very small stock.
6 Y-Y
A fragrant and early little cyclamineus offspring of Gipsy Queen, Bunnie Bee is another miniature from the universe of tiny flowers by Walter Blom.
1 Y-Y
If you are in the market for an all gold trumpet it is hard to find a more exemplary example than Cameo Gem. Has heavy substance and a frilly edge on the long -long cup.
2 Y-R
From Peter Ramsey's Cameo series, Cameo Joy is a rounded yellow and red large cupped daffodil for competition.
4 W-W
An offspring of the double white daffodil Kiwi Magic. Both from New Zealand, Cameo Magic is a soft white, luxurious double bloom that is hexagonally well organized. On a good day tough to beat in competition.
3 W-YYO
Cameo Marie - A fiery white and yellow-yellow-orange Kiwi-bred small cup. Broad ovate white petals. Four inch blooms. A substantial flower that is a natural for the show bench. Rare.
2 W-W
Peter Ramsey's Cameo series is an extended family distinguished by their perfect perianths across many shapes and color combinations. Overlapping petals with a point.
8 W-Y
Canaliculatus - An important Tazetta that is grown commercially in large numbers. A historic, an ADS Classic and an ADS miniature. On commercial acreage lists in Holland it is categorized as a species. Pollen and Pod fertile. We maintain a small stock that is hand harvested and graded apart from the large commercial growers. Floriferous, bright and fragrant. Mentioned as an "erratic and fussy bloomer"1 in Southern zones 8 and above.
1. Daffodils in American Gardens 1733-1940, Sara L. van Beck, 101