‘Thalia’, N. jonquilla, ‘Geranium’
When members of the American Daffodil Society were asked to list their 25 favorite daffodils, they ended up naming a whopping 766 different varieties – and “most of the varieties were older, not the newest available,” writes our friend Janet Hickman in the March 2020 Daffodil Journal. As one member explained, “If I can only have a few daffodils, I want them to be reliable growers.”
Many of the top-25 lists “came with charming annotations,” Janet adds, such as “‘my first blue ribbon,’ ‘named for my friend,’ ‘given to me by my grandmother,’” and so on, “demonstrating the way daffodils embody our memories and stories.”
At the top of the combined list was ‘Rapture’, an early-blooming cyclamineus daffodil introduced in 1976. Although that’s a little too recent for our catalog, thirteen of the Top-25 varieties date to 1958 or before: ‘Sweetness’ (#2, 1939), ‘Tahiti’ (#4/5 tie, 1956), ‘Tete-a-Tete’ (#4/5, 1949), ‘Actaea’ (#6/8, 1919), ‘Hawera’ (#6/8, 1928), ‘Thalia’ (#9/11, 1916), ‘Barrett Browning’ (#12, 1945), ‘Ceylon’ (#14/15, 1943), ‘Geranium’ (#16/19, 1930), ‘Salome’ (#16/19, 1958), ‘Xit’ (#16/19, 1948), ‘Avalanche’ (#20/26, 1906), N. jonquilla (#20/26, 1612).
All those we offer (except ‘Sweetness’, alas) are available now for fall delivery, and the rest are widely available elsewhere. Why not order a few now and see if they make it into your Top 25!
