Small-Cupped Daffodils

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.

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.

Astrid's Memory: White and Yellow small cupped show daffodil from Clive Postles.

Barri Conspicuous is one of the founding members of the Iron Ladies and Marathon Men Daffodil Club. A very old Backhouse seedling, aka Conspicuus, has broad petals for an antique, a long 90 degree neck, and a yellow petal color that transmogrifies to creamy white. The cup is a pleasing yet intense yellow orange with just the right amount of Victorian frilly bling. A truly great landscape flower that has been dug and replanted for 150 years, and with good reason. ADS Historic.

The Barr Family were well established daffodil merchants in London by the turn of the 20th century . The appellation "Barrii" or sometimes "Barri" was an early attempt at classification and was applied to many poeticus / pseudo narcissus crosses that they marketed. The tall stems of modern cultivars likely descends from these early crosses of the upright poeticus species. The Barri nomenclature is now commonly dropped.

An old an bright small-cup, Narcissus Bath's Flame was once widely grown as a cut flower. A true classic that will never go out of style. Lithe and long lived. Based on the intense color that is coaxed out of the cup in the Dutch spring weather I think this daffodil would be classified as red, not orange in the cup if it was newly introduced today,

We hesitate to deem Beautiful Dream as a good "filler" flower for the bouquet, although it succeeds any way you see fit to use it. Because of its gentle nature and its ability to elevate its neighbors, you may overlook its strength, frilly cup and lovely coloration. Like all things Grant Mitsch there is perfection here, but perfection does not exclude gentleness. Pollen and seed fertile. Granddaughter of China White. Don't be shy, we have a good stock of this daffodil.

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.

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.

An angular and fit new small-cupped introduction from C. van der Veek, Bestie throws a perfectly formed star shaped bloom, with a cantaloupe colored cup.

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.

There is a stable of Brian Duncan White / Pink small cups that we find so rewarding it is hard to pick a favorite. Camilla Clara Kate is so robust and substantial that we think it is time to close the book. A stem like a utility pole, a bloom without weakness. An example of why we love small cups. A lovely competitor that ought always to be in your quiver as it is always easy to find a flawless bloom.

A breathtaking small-cup of great restfulness and beauty, Crystal Choice is all white with a wide, wide perianth. A perfect bloom maker, but with some vulnerability. Brian Duncan.

Broad white petals with a coy green eye. Much Sought after. ADS Historic, ADS Classic. Tall and late, it plays well with others: We put it on the May floral market. A bloom of great beauty and poise that defines elegance : one we cannot imagine living without. A proud parent both ways.

If you had a flat face with a broad pink rim perhaps your mother would have named you Dena too. Dena the Daff is so popular we can't keep her in stock. With a face like that we would be just as popular too. From Brian Duncan.

A formidable all-white small cup Draycote Water is descended from Princess Zaide who is disappearing from the commercial trade. Like its father Draycote excels in the landscape and on the show bench. Maybe a bit better at both if you are looking for a white small cup, that is.

An antique all over mellow yellow small cup from the Rev Engleheart. This is a rare daffodil, so rare that it is rumored not to exist. But here we are one hundred years on with no end in sight. Petals get slim, acute, and shouldered with age. Swellegant ( thanks Cole Porter).

Watching a planting of Firebrand in bloom blow in the breeze on a sunny spring day is an encounter that may never let slip from memory. A poster child for the greatness of historic, small-cupped daffodils : bred mostly by tweed wearing clerics and the landed gentry. A handsome devil, much like Lucifer . Increases with a little care.

Shallow bowl shaped yellow to red small cup in a blunt white perianth. Very tall, very late and colorful. From New Zealand.

A new small-cupped bi-color, a descendant of Moon Madness, Ginto makes round and flat breezy and easy. Brian Duncan.

In the large population of pink cups, small-cupped daffodils are a small subset. Good Faith is more well rounded and a bit deeper in color than, say our favored Little Jewel. Good Faith extends the season by blooming later than the others.

Just fills you with envy doesn't it ? Powerful contender for best in any show, no? Ovate and mucronate spinnaker-white petals as perfect as the compact red suction cupped-cup. Hartlebury is just unbeatable. Late 20th Century English narcissiculture.

A mellow yellow small cup that just screams perfection. If I was packing for a daffodil show with grand and smooth aspirations I would pack Hollowbridge along with Abstruse.

A newer Brian Duncan red cup of great quality, size and substance

This new van der Veek introduction has a small frilly cup and is white all over like Hudson Bay late in the spring before the winter ice finally melts. A very tall and very late Daffodil. Henry Hudson's first trips to North America were financed by the British. The Dutch East Indies investors our bid the Brits to finance Hank's voyage to find the Northeast passage. As soon as Henry got his hands on those guilders he sailed due west and discovered not any passage at all but Manhattan instead.

A rounded White -Yellow small cup that can make a large, flat bloom. Jammin is fertile both ways.

Jenna, a small cup Yellow/Red is a show-worthy daff from Clive Postles. Small numbers available.

When the laundress sees the red lipstick on the collar of your starched white button-down she will know that you too have been Juliet's Choice. Just a handful of bulbs available.

Well rounded and bright, La Riante is a sassy old small cup. Historic and contrasty, broad white petals with a yellow orange ribbed cup. La Riante was very common in trade mid century. May sun burn without afternoon shade. Rare.

The thing the most unlike an all-yellow trumpet daffodil is an all-yellow small cupped daffodil. Somehow it is in the color -- think Arona, Hollowbridge, Lemon Choice. Not a sour choice at all.

Guilty as charged, for unknown reasons we often overlook Little Jewel, but likely due to youthful excess. This daffodil is aptly named and rather unique, being that there are not a lot of fully pink-colored small cups. The father of the fantastic Fencourt Jewel, Little Jewel is a good grower and delicate at the same time -- a very nice bloom.

love is more thicker than forget
more thinner than recall
more seldom than a wave is wet
more frequent than to fail

it is most mad and moonly
and less it shall unbe
than all the sea which only
is deeper than the sea

love is less always than to win
less never than alive
less bigger than the least begin
less littler than forgive

it is most sane and sunly
and more it cannot die
than all the sky which only
is higher than the sky

ee cummings

Another show quality, soft yellow on yellow small cup from Brian Duncan.

A perfectly rounded white and yellow small cup from Clive Postles. Cute as a button and promiscuous. Very limited.

My Sweetheart's is exemplary of trends in late 20th and early 21st century daffodil breeding: Intense color over size; broad and overlapping petals; overall rounded shape and flat profile. Of all of Dr Reed's colorful seedlings I think this is my favorite: strong and easy to grow.

Netherwood Marsh -- a broad and luxurious all white small cup from Clive Postles.

The chestnut is that the English hybridize for the singular competition bloom, where the Dutch breed robust and bright landscape giants. But the lines are increasingly crossed or blurred depending on your point of reference. Night Circus is a Hollander that seems more comfortable on thr show bench than in the broad vista planting. A round, coy and well-behaved bloom.

A very sharp show daffodil, on a good day you only need one to win. A Brian Duncan small cup.

Historically a lot of daffodil breeding has been by English-speaking men. But Petra Vogt from Germany is an outlier who doesn't even wear tweed. Her eponymous flower is so very nice, it can win on the bench and has "echten Wow-Faktor" in the border. Did you ever see anything like that rim?

This daffodil is unregistered, and has been known informally as Petra and Petra's. It is a healthy grower certainly suitable for the landscape.

With broad yellow petals and a deeply red colored small cup Pimpula is an outspoken and contrasty bloom. We have seen it show very well on the bench, but this Duncan hybrid appears NOT to be registered at this time.

Pimpula in Finnish means "Little Girl", used as a non-pejorative nickname for a new office hire.

Pracht translates from Dutch to "Splendor". Yes, a bright young face, splendid splendor ! The white petals nearly overlap the sepals completely. New introduction from Carlos van der Veek.

Consistent and persistent in the firmament of narcissus, Queen of the North should be everyone's first daffodil. Top of the list : Most beautiful flowers. Widely distributed, known, and loved. Deservedly so. ADS Historics.

There is some debate about whether the end of the "Flat and Round" style in daffodil hybridizing is nigh , but we doubt that it will ever go the way of avocado-colored kitchen appliances.This new van der Veek introduction is certainly flat and round with a bright gilded rim to the cup. Ring Ring is strong grower with show qualities and potential, although not registered at this writing.

Copper-colored daffodils ( Orange with Red cups) are a most unusual creature. Sabine Hay is kind of well-known, but no commercial growers grow it. Richly colored and exquisitely detailed you will never forget the first time you see Sabine Hay. A super breeder.

Best in class: category historics. To our eye Seagull really stands out in form and in color, the orange rim makes its wave and wink visible from across the garden. Unforgettable.

If you are looking for Yum-Yum, then its all white, flat, and improved small-cupped daughter Silver Choice from Brian Duncan is your best bet. Yum -Yum has met its demise and is no longer in our nursery. We have good numbers of Silver Choice, despite sounding like a Medicare supplement plan, it throws perfect blooms of good substance.

Many breeders are in search of burn-proof small cups. If you have such a delicate and beautiful flower as Three of Diamonds you can avoid all that by plucking it early. An early seedling from Ms. Gripshover.

From the prolific Brian Duncan we offer three show daffs that are in the vein of the classic lipstick-rimmed small-cupped yellow daffodil Pacific Rim: Burning Ring; Ring Fence ;Triple Crown ;. Although all throw flawless blooms, we personally would wager Triple Crown by a nose except that in the UK they Award the Triple Crown to Rugby players not horse and jockey.

If we had a cool name like Vendell we too would be sharp, cool and handsome. Coloration like Queen of the North the petals and cup, yet rounder and made for competition.

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his "Billy" boiled ,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

Chorus:
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his "Billy" boiled,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong,
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred.
Down came the troopers, one, two, and three.
"Whose is that jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong.
"You'll never catch me alive!" said he
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong:
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."


This daffodil is not currently registered.

White Lady is an old Engleheart variety that is maddeningly similar to Queen of the North. Having spent much time looking at the two I can say that if you showed me one flower and asked me which, I could not say. Show me one of each of them together I could easily pick out White Lady. She had a deeper color coalescing at the rim of the cup. Also lightly scented.

It is difficult to identify the old small cups from their shape alone: their form changes greatly as the bloom matures. I am sure that at one time long ago some reprobate mixed a stock of White Lady and Queen of the North together further compounding the confusion. Seagull is also similar.

Like most of the old small cups White Lady is as tough as an iron maiden, blooms well out of the leaves, and a top choice for a sparse vista (aka "Naturalized") planting. ADS Historic.

An easy and smooth wave of a white small cup, White Spring is an English bred Tall Daff. Extremely Limited.

Alec Gray bred a lot of terrific miniature small cups : Segovia, Sundisc ; This Daffodil on DaffSeek but Xit has always caught our eye. White blossoms make a cumulus cloud-like display. Exciting in the bed and on the bench, there is a lot of joy to go around. Grows well and can make a tall stem. One of the very best in Narcissusdom.

Like one of our favorites, the miniature and spirited daff Xit, Yellow Xit is just as jubilant as its parent, but as you may surmise it has yellow in the corona. ADS Miniature. Not sure why this does not appear to be an ADS classic.