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Introduction
The American Daffodil Society (ADS) was founded in 1954 to promote wider interest in
daffodils; to encourage scientific research and education on daffodil culture, breeding,
diseases, pests, exhibiting, and testing; to encourage, coordinate, and sponsor shows and
exhibitions of daffodils; to record and disseminate horticultural information about
daffodils and issue publications for such purpose; and to register daffodil varieties and
standardize their names in cooperation with international authorities. To that end, the
ADS publishes quarterly The Daffodil Journal, a 64-page magazine that covers all aspects
of daffodil culture, breeding, and exhibition.
As of September, 1995 the ADS had 1260 members in 47 states and an additional 140 members
in Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Holland, Germany, Hungary,
Argentina, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Norway, Poland, South Korea, and Sweden. The ADS
cooperates with The Royal Horticultural Society by accepting and forwarding registrations
for new daffodil cultivars from American registrants. The ADS publishes several books that
list and describe registered daffodil cultivars, including Daffodils to Show and Grow,
which is updated approximately every four years, and The Tom D. Throckmorton Daffodil Data
Bank, which is updated annually.
Dues are $20 annually (any four consecutive quarters) and include a subscription to The
Daffodil Journal. Dues are payable in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank.
History
The genesis of The American Daffodil Society was an article entitled "Who will Join a
Daffodil Society?" which Paul Frese, then editor of Popular Gardening, published in
the October, 1953, issue of that magazine. Organized activity in the growing and
showing of daffodils until then was confined to the Maryland Daffodil Society, the garden
club of Virginia, and the Washington Daffodil Society. More than 400 responses were
received and turned over to these groups to proceed with the details of creating a
national society. A call went out to those who had expressed their interest to
attend an organizational meeting to be held at Chevy Chase, Maryland, on April 9,
1954. On that occasion, the Society was voted into existence and temporary
officers elected. The organization of the Society was completed on January 22.
1955, when the Board of Directors elected Carey E. Quinn, president; Willis H. Wheeler,
secretary; and Mrs. William A. Bridges, treasurer. The Society was incorporated
February 20, 1958.
The first activity of the Society was to develop a publication which over the years
evolved from mimeographed sheets issued occasionally, through the small Daffodil Bulletin
issued quarterly in conjunction with a yearbook, and now into the Daffodil Journal, a
greatly enlarged quarterly with beautiful color photographs. The Journal is now
accepted as the leading publication of daffodil news and views from around the world.
In 1966, the Society edited its Journal, and the American
Horticultural Society published the Daffodil Handbook as a special issue of its quarterly
magazine. The Daffodil Handbook is an encyclopedic reference work on all aspects of the
flower. Currently, the Society publishes the Tom D. Throckmorton (of the ADS)
Daffodil Data Bank, and a condensed version, 'Daffodils to Show and Grow', both of which
list the classification of daffodils. DaffSeek (daffseek.org) is an daffodil nternet query system sponsored by the ADS and has information for more than 18,000 named daffodils and over 14,000 photos of many of the daffodils.
Officers
President: George Dorner
First Vice President: Kathy Welsh
Second Vice President: Becky Fox Matthews
Secretary: Sally Nash
Treasurer: Spencer Rainey
Goals:
- To actively promote, in a variety of ways, increased public awareness and appreciation of the daffodil as an important plant.
- To embrace all types of daffodil hobbyists, and to continually recruit new daffodil enthusiasts in order to maintain a healthy organization. To create more daffodil hobbyists of all kinds.
- To serve gardeners' needs to learn more about all aspects of growing daffodils.
- To actively encourage improvements in daffodil breeding by both amateur and professional breeders.
- To create more public exhibits of daffodils, both shows and public plantings.
- To provide information interchange among daffodil enthusiast, and to serve as a conduit for information between isolated groups, both nationally and internationally. Document daffodil information to prevent its loss.
- To set standards for daffodil shows and judges; to continue to improve the quality of judging in shows.
- To provide registration of new cultivars, and to work with international authorities on matters of daffodil classification.
- To provide financial security consistent with all tax laws pertaining to 501 (c) 3 organizations.
- To promote and encourage scientific research on the genus Narcissus.
For more information about the American Daffodil
Society
please contact
Jaydee Ager at jager@dishmail.net
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