The Y2K Daffodil Show Season

It's that time of year again, daffodil show season - that is. The end of March and the month of April are the busiest days for us daffodil show exhibitors. While there is pleasure of bright colored daffodils in the garden, daffodil shows are the fun of growing daffodils. Therefore, I'm encouraging you to pick some of the daffodils from your garden and place them in a local daffodil show.

If you want to exhibit your daffodils, don't expect to compete with the "mossy backs" that have spent the last 30 years grooming daffodils for the show benches. These old timers can "proverbially" make a "silk purse" out of a "sow's ear." However, you can successfully compete by picking daffodils straight out of the garden that are ready for the show. To make that necessary "splash" careful selection and light grooming will be necessary.

The trick of exhibiting as a newcomer is to put all your eggs into one basket, and not to worry about what the competition is doing. I look at it as competing with myself, and if I prepare my daffodils right I expect to bring home the ribbion. To put all your daffodils in one basket, means to select an award that you would like to enter, regardless if it is a collection of one, three, five, twelve or twenty-four, and put in your very best flowers. Don't hold anything back! A ribbon is a ribbon, and it's color is meaningless, as long as you win one. That technique worked for me during my novice year, and still works five years later.

How do you do that? Here's how. Regardless if your intent is to exhibit daffodils, or put them in your home decorations, the basic principles apply. That is, you have to pick the most beautiful flowers from your garden that are show ready. That's how it's done.

What are the most beautiful flowers in the Garden? That's easy! The most beautiful flowers in the garden are those that are free of nicks, tears, and mittens, as a starter. That concept can be taken one more step to include those flowers that have good color, and that stand on a tall strong stem, with the petals and the cup symmetrical. There are no more beautiful daffodils then those that stand on a strong stem with the cup looking at you.

Start in the garden by picking the best of the daffodils for use in the home or to take to the show. Look each bloom over carefully to insure that it is without deformities, and that the petal and cup lines are graceful, without nick and tears. Look at the cup to make sure that it has not been damaged. Gently touch the rim of the cup, and it should be soft and yielding. If the cup's rim is hard, or if the tops of the cups have little crescents, the flower is sun-burned and should be bypassed. Go to the next flower.

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