A trio of beauties today, all split corona types (Division 11 for those who need to know these things). If you thought doubles or pinks were controversial, the split corona daffs, where the cup or trumpet is slashed into six segments, definitely divide opinion. I generally like them though I totally understand and respect the opinion of those who think they are just a bit too ‘messed around’ with.

We start with one that I don’t like much, but not because it is a ‘split’ but because it is so heavily ruffled that you can’t really tell it is split at all. In fact it looks more like a carnation really with its big blob of frilliness. The inner three petals seem to get caught on the frills and give it a rather triangular or lopsided shape. Interestingly, some of the bulbs produced flowers where the corona was not properly split but I do not know if that is a regular habit or not. It has a bit of scent but I am not really enamoured with this. It was registered in 1978 and was raised by Gerritsen & Son in The Netherlands – they are the daddy of splits.

This is sold as ‘Prom Dance’ but appears not to be registered. It is a dainty flower with two or three blooms per stem and although the flower above is barely open it gives a clue as to the ‘fried egg’ look of the flower. It has a pleasant fragrance and the habit is graceful. It is not a dwarf but a shorter variety, blooming at about 40cm.

Thanks to Tyler, comment below, I now know that this is ‘Smiling Twin’ another Brent Heath cultivar.

My favourite of the three is ‘Curly Lace’ which I bought as ‘Love Potion’. It is odd that so many of the new daffs this year have turned out to have been bred by Brent Heath in the USA – there was no plan – and this is another, registered in 2009. It has rather small flowers (75cm) on slim stems amid greyish leaves and flowers at about 45cm high. The cup is split and frilly but not overly so to my tastes but what makes it rather special is the rich, jonquil-like scent. The only fault I can see so far is that the flower stems are shorter than  the foliage which may limit its value in the garden but as I have some cut in a vase I can ignore that.

Did you know: Today is Scrabble Day

brent heath, daffodil curly lace, daffodil flyer, daffodil love potion, daffodil prom dance, Gerritsen and son