Narcissus August 2016

[Mini-daffs]

Hi
Fermi, the concertina form likes right but the giveaway is the size it grows to. Pilgrim Clay normally hits about 6cms here so it is not miniature. The stem is relatively short. Pilgrim Clay is so big it stands out from a distance.
The flowers I am posting are a mixture: some are new seedlings; some are from crosses done many years ago; and some are species.
Some of the best new seedlings this year are a group of "ferals" (ie they are from seed that has fallen on the floor of the shadehouse or in the daffodil bed rows. One of the best is a miniature 1W-Y is a rescued flower that had been planted in our house garden.
We have had one of our wettest winters on record after one of our hottest autumns ever so it is little wonder that the daffodils are confused. However, having a N. dubius flowering this early opens up some unusual hybridising opportunities that we have never had before. The biggest problem is the wet weather.
The wet weather is ok as long as it is not wet in summer.
Quite a few of the miniatures flowering at the moment are from our wet program and they live in our shadehouse.
We have a lot of bulbocodiums and tazettas out at the moment so despite it being winter we have a lot of flowers out when you would least expect them to be flowering profusely.
It is nice to read that there are people who look forward to seeing my posts. The SLR camera and macro lense make it much easier to take photos.

[Mini-daffs]

Part 2.
Some species photos for Rafa. The photo of what the label says is N. asturiensis var. vasconicus does not look right at all because it is so different to our other N. asturiensis var, vasconicus but also because it looks like it has an element of reverse bicolor to it.

[Mini-daffs]

Hi
Part 3. Something very special for Lesley. It is not often I spot something as good as the N. romieuxii split cup.
Can someone tell me why I can't  use smiley's or change the font any more?

[Maggi Young]

Love the pic of your pollinating helper, Graham!

No idea why you've lost  the ability to use smileys, change font etc - it seems a forum  SMF update  deleted most folks'  notification lists, so perhaps it's something to do with that, in  concert with some of your own browser  settings - sorry, such techy dtails are beyond me and do not seem to be easily explained! 

[vanozzi]

Just a peek at a couple that I like this year.

[Mini-daffs]

Hi
A few more photos. Lots of tazettas flowering earlier than normal. Lots of very small miniatures flowering as well.
The small white miniature in this group of photos is special because it opens white. A lot of our miniatures are W-Y under the RHS colour scale whereas this one would be classified as white.
Paul, that cyclamineus hybrid looks to have a bit of colour in it.

[Mini-daffs]

Hi
Part 2.
A split cup intermediate for Lesley.
The dwarf papyraceous is out about 6 weeks earlier than last year.

[Mini-daffs]

Hi
Part 3
The white-yellow certainly comes on a dwarf stem but the flower may be a tad large for miniature. It is a bigger flower than its relative which will appear in Part 4. Its relative is a smaller flower on a taller stem. However it is unusual coloured seedlings like these that provide the opportunity to breed something different.

[Mini-daffs]

Hi
Part 4

[Mini-daffs]

Hi
Part 5

[vanozzi]

Hi people, a few more of interest, all miniatures

6Y-W and 6W-Y the former past its prime (pollinated)
6w-w
groupies
1y-y min under 50mm less than 20cm tall with excellent petal coverage

[vanozzi]

Hi people
a couple of the not so popular jonquillas

N. willkommii
N.calcicola --deleted

Note these calcicola bulbs originated in 2012 or 2013, from Rod B of Tasmania,the most knowledgeable daffodil specie grower in Australia, but as Graham has questioned them as not matching those in daffseek, and I tend to agree, I have removed the two photos of calcicola.

[Mini-daffs]

Paul
What you have posted as N. calcicola does not appear to me to be N. calcicola. N. calcicola is usually multiheaded and the flowers much neater than the one in your photo. If you look at the photos of N. calcicola on Daffseek you will see what I mean. It looks like a species jonquilla but it is probably not N. calcicola.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Graham,
here are a couple of yours in flower today:
Narcissus KB-6WP-2-08
    "    KB-M-12YY-1-03 (N. cordubensis x N. cyclamineus)
cheers
fermi

[Mini-daffs]

Hi
We have been doing a lot of hybridising to produce miniatures with lots of petal coverage. We have some very good seedlings now and we are working to produce more of them. We have some at the big end of miniature but most are small or micro minis.