I grow quite a few varieties of daffodils, especially Grant Misch pink cupped hybrids, but has anyone else noticed the colors in the daffodils are just flat out amazing this year (they actually look like catalogue pictures)! I just kind of wander around in astonishment as one after the other seems more beautiful. I've posted quite a few daffodil pictures at the site below:
Don http://iowagarden.blogspot.com/
Don, you have some beautiful daffs plus other plants. May I ask where you purchased your small anemones [white]??
Are you purchasing your daffs from companys in Holland?
Maxine
Zonedenial, your photographs are beautiful!
Hi Don,
I love your daffodil collection and the photography and the design of your blog. All are so very lovely. Thank you for sending us to your blog site.
Yes, I agree the daffodils are especially beautiful this year...after a difficult start, ours are showing off well, too.
Happy gardening. t.
Don, thanks for site direction.. Wonderful beautiful daffs and other pictures. I really enjoyed seeing them. I have quite a lot of daffs too, but no really red cups like you show. thanks again DonnaS
Maxine,
The little wood anemones (nemerosa) I got from Heronswood and Arrowhead Alpines, but I've seen them occasionally at a local nursery. I've bought daffodils here, there, and everywhere over the years, but the last few years I've bought mostly from Grant Misch in Oregon.
Don
Don--do you buy from Mitsch because of the unusual bulbs they offer, or...?
I like the last narcissus especially...do you have a name for it?
Thanks again for posting your pretty pics. t.
Tabasco,
Grant Misch was the world pioneer in breeding pink cup daffys, which is what I like. Alas, as to names, I've moved through four gardens, and the last move in particular, was grab what you can, so daffodil bulbs were just thrown in buckets, and so most don't have names, other than "pretty pink-cupped daffy".
Don
Does Mitsch have a web site? As I especially love the pink or red cup varieties.
Or do you have enough to trade for other perennials?
Maxine
Maxine,
There is a web site for Mitsch Daffodils (link below). Don't be shocked at the prices for new introductions; I always just buy the seedling mixture at $15 for a dozen different bulbs, or might spring for a couple of individual $5 bulbs. I was hoping nobody would ask about trading for daffy bulbs; it's not that I don't have plenty, and I'm always sending people home with stuff, but trying to dig daffy bulbs is a different matter... I just threw them all together in beds when I moved here, and they've grown into, let's face it, masses. Last year I promised a friend some bulbs; when they died down I tried to pry some loose and chopped up about three for every one I retrieved, plus I had no idea what I was digging, since they are all mixed together, plus I foolishly planted a lot of them in my rose beds, so they are all intertwined with rose roots. Someday I have to face breaking them up, and I will keep you in mind, but I'm not looking forward to it. Don
http://www.web-ster.com/havensr/mitsch/
You would have loved the daffodile show I went to last week - such perfect blooms and an amazing array of colours.
A more subtle colour
OH Don, I face the same problem with a bed that I have and should dig up and divide!
It has needed transplanting for a couple of yrs., but this yr. must be done as they aren't blossoming due I think to over crowding.
Thanks for the web site.
Prices are comparable to new introductions for lily bulbs, which I suffer an affliction of.
Maxine
Galanthophile,
Wow, those are amazing daffodil pictures... where are the little bugs and spiders that always show up on my closeups when I blow them up?
Don
Oh, I didn't know Mitsch had a special interest in pink daffodils...very interesting. I am only familiar with a few of the stories about him and the Mitsch website...I have never sent in the $3. for the catalog.
And Galanth...love your narcissus 'portraits'. Did you enter anything in the show? I am going to our local show this afternoon...Do you get your daffs from Broadleigh? They have a beautiful website with lots of good information and quite a collection of offerings, don't they. Alas, I don't think they send to the States anymore.
Have fun gardening this weekend. t.
Some of my King Alfred's with a hippeastrum...
Tabasco,
Grant Mitsch has the reputation as THE dean of U.S. daffodil breeding, having started in the 30's (he died a few years back, but the company and breeding have been carried on by his daughter and son-in law). I think his ultimate goal was a true red cup daffodil, and they ARE getting close, though the very newest hybrids with the reddest cups I think are smaller cups so far (I can only drool over the pictures, as even I, who once spent $60 on a cypripedium that I accidentally dropped a big rock on and killed, can't bring myself to spend close to a hundred dollars on a daffodil bulb).
Don
I recd. Breck's new fall catalog for their bulbs this week. In paging thru, noticed that they have some of the pink, orange, yellow and close to red db. daffodil bulbs.
Recd. a $25. certificate off if I purchased an additional $25 of bulbs. Think I will take them up on it, as I have had excellent luck and bulbs with the company.
Thanks Don, for all of your tips including all of the other posters.
Maxine
I am so jealous I can't stand it. I bought Salome daffs from last fall's coop, fully knowing they were hardy up to zone 8 (I'm in 9) and today I have about 13 bulbs out of 75 that have put out leaves but not a flower yet. I'm wondering if there is a certain date when I can try to pull out whatever bulbs are left, store and use for "trading" later on. I didn't want any yellow daffs, I had my heart set on pink ones. I guess it's not meant to be... Zonedenial your daffs are beautiful and I am pea green w/ envy!!!!
I've got some good ones too. My pink ones have yet to pop. But here are some fun doubles.
That's a beauty!
Don
Here is a white daffy among the red tulips. I love the contrast.
Hello all. I don't usually post on this forum but had a specific question...if I pull bulbs up in the spring and pot them they have many small flowers instead of one large flower. Why is that? I actually like the small ones better.
Yes, the colors in my daffs are wonderful this year...
Also, had the mature trees cut from our woods last fall - this spring I kept seeing white flowers at the top of one hill so tonight I took a walk...they are daffs that must have been there for some time but haven't bloomed in the 12 years we have lived here. Must a needed a little more sunshine (don't we all) lol
attached at the flowers I found in the woods tonight.
Shelley,
I think your picture is of Narcissus poeticus (Pheasant's eye narcissus), a daffodil species, that has naturalized in many places, especially in Great Britain. It is one of the latest daffodils to bloom, and in many spots in this country it is seen growing in old garden sites.
Don
Hi, all.
I purchased the Mitsch catalog at a recent daffodil show in Fortuna. The nice thing is that they do give you a $3 discount on your first purchase, but the catalog itself is very nice. They don't picture all of the bulbs they have for sale, but there were 30-40 pictures. Very nice descriptions, and while some of them are pretty expensive, there are also some very affordable bulbs as well.
Lori
My pink daffies popped. Good color this year!
