For The Bench
248 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.
2 Y-YOO
Strong and consistent Aberfoyle is a very dependable large orange cupped entry for the bench. Gets better upon further inspection. An English variety from the 1980's
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.
3 W-R
An ivory and red small cup, Abstruse makes consistent and charismatic blooms, with great color and great substance in the petals. Doesn't makes mittens as the petals seldom catch unfolding from the cup. An easy win on the bench : I find the neck a little brittle so use your lady fingers when finishing. Originally from down under.
2 Y-YOO
A bright and balanced broad large cup from Brian Duncan. Very limited. Named for the fantastical early 20th century hotel in Yosemite where room rates average $890 a night. You can enjoy a visit with our Ahwahnee for $3 a year.
3 W-Y
Softly colored, elegant and well-rounded, Aircastle always speaks with an indoor voice. Tall and late : an ADS classic from Grant Mitsch that will never go out of style.
Perfection of form and consistency of performance are the attributes of this variety. The perianth is very rounded and flat, and in perfect balance with the small flat crown which is pale apricot lemon with a narrow margin of deeper shade. The perianth opens milk white but after a few days turns to greenish beige. A large flower of good substance and vigorous growth. One may go down a long row and find nearly every flower of exhibition caliber. A frequent show winner including awards for best flower in the Royal Horticultural Society's London Daffodil Show in 1963 and 1966. It has been a good parent. While the color does not appeal to every one, it is doubtless one of the best Daffodils we have raised.
Novelty Daffodils Catalog, Grant Mitch, 1971 p. 5
2 W-WWP
Large blossomed white and pink cupped Brian Duncan Hybrid. From Fragrant Rose, but the breathy pink coalesces at the rim of the cup.
5 W-P
A pink-cupped triandrus may be the rarest form in all of daffodildom. Akepa is perhaps the very first of its kind, from Grant Mitsch.
2 W-P
Flawless white and pink cup. Minutely mucronate.
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.
3 Y-O
Sometimes you need to be brassy to stand out from the cacophonous crowd. Rounded, smooth, and substantial, Armidale can make a very large and flawless flower. A yellow / orange small cup with a punch from Brian Duncan. Limited.
3 Y-YYO
Arona - Soft yellow perianth, the soft orange peaks at the rim of the spherical cup. Soft spoken and detailed, a peerless thing for the bench. From Clive Postles.
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.
3 W-Y
Small solid colored yellow cup set in a substantial set of spinnaker-like segments. Large diameter flower. Turns out that we do need those badges. Badgeworth is from Clive Postles. Limited.
4 Y-O
Ballistic. Bright perfectly formed, well structured double with 4 inch blooms. Full throated Kiwi style from New Zealand. Photographs don't do Ballistic justice. You will so want this daffodil when you see it. We did.
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.
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 Y-O
Bionic is an intensely colored yellow orange large cup bred in Tasmania. Full of modern contrast, Bionic has a well-rounded, perfectly layered perianth and a distinct deep cylindrical cup. A six million dollar bloom on the bench. A champion.
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 to one bloom to make your day. But please, take two bulbs, or more ! 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.