Subject: Beware! Daffodil Police! As submitted by Mary Lou Gripshover, our editor of Daffodils, here on suite101.com.
Clay,
Thanks for bringing this week's column to my attention. After reading it, I decided I'd have to dust off my "Daffodil Police Badge" to clear up some misconceptions. As I'm sure your readers know, the Classification System was developed originally in Britain in the 1880s as a communication tool and for use in show schedules. If you tell me you have a beautiful Division 8 flower in bloom, I know immediately that it's a tazetta hybrid, with several florets on a stem, and it's fragrant. So, "Division 8" is shorthand for all of that. And if you add the letters of the color code, say 8 W-O, I know it's white and orange. The British are avid gardeners, and like many gardeners, they like to show their best blooms. And so the Classification System is used in shows, so that like competes with like. It's very hard to judge a trumpet daffodil against a tazetta hybrid. The System has been changed over the years to accommodate new hybrids that were being developed. The RHS consults with daffodil societies around the world to reach a consensus before changes are made. Changes are usually suggested by interested individuals, who send their suggestions to the RHS Narcissus Classification Advisory Committee. If the hybridizer is still alive, he/she is consulted before any change is made. I'm the American representative on the Committee, and we work at about the speed of molasses on a winter day. Decisions are not made in haste.
Now, N. bulbocodium is still in Division 13, with the rest of the species. The new Division 10 is for bulbocodium hybrids, and these hybrids, as hybrids in any division, can be either miniature or standard or any size in between. There are miniature trumpet daffodils-'Wee Bee,' 'Bagatelle,' 'Little Beauty,' to name a few-but they are still in Division 1. Most cultivars now in Division 10 are miniatures, but I can think of at least one, 'Little Soldier,' which is not. And you're right, there aren't very many cultivars in this division yet. But hybridizers are working in this area, particularly in Australia.
When there are enough cultivars in Division 12 that share similar characteristics, then no doubt other divisions will be added. Who
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