"It usually needs to be more protected," said Haeffner, recalling how in a previous year her Avalanche cultivar began coming up in December.
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Avalanche isn't the only beauty blooming in Haeffner's gardens. She has over 800 varieties of daffodils growing between her two properties.
Haeffner said the reason she has two locations is because the dirt is different and also, one spot gets less wind and is more protected, - so she sometimes has better luck getting her "show" flowers from there.
Haeffner began growing daffodils more than 20 years ago as a hobby, but in the last several years she has done it as much for sport, showing her blooms with the Greater St. Louis Daffodil Society (GSLDS) and winning top awards.
At last year's show, Haeffner won the gold for her "Magic Lantern" variety and also brought home the silver prize for having the most blue ribbons - 29. She's also received the Quinn Award for a collection of 24 blooms.
Another local grower, Gary Knehans, received the mini-gold award last year for his "Three of Diamonds." He's also won gold, mini-gold and silver awards numerous times in previous years.
Like all true flower lovers, Haeffner enjoys sharing her buds with others. She has planted bulbs along Highway 19 - in springtime they're like a road map to her house - and guests to her home during bloom time don't leave without a bouquet.
During daffodil season, Haeffner also sells a good number - about 100 stems a week - to a Washington florist. They refer to her as "the daffodil lady." And this year Haeffner picked some 1,200 for a wedding.
"Daffodils have a long bouquet life," Haeffner said, noting stems she had cut on her table last weekend are the ones she will show this weekend at a competition in Chicago.
But what is likely Haeffner's most lasting act of daffodil generosity began in spring 2003 when her daughter and her friends at Hermann High School asked her to help them plant bulbs on the hill overlooking the football field. Some other kids had vandalized the hillside, and Haeffner's daughter and her friends wanted to do something nice to cover the damage, a sort of graduation gift from them to their alma mater.
To date, Haeffner has helped the students plant some 40,000 bulbs in a circle around a large white stone H. In the beginning, the bulbs were donated in early spring by the Netherlands Catalog Company. Lately, Haeffner has contributed the bulbs she gets from the Shaw Nature Reserve "Dig Day" where members of the GSLDS are invited to dig up bulbs on a back area of the property, where the Reserve is conducting controlled burns to return the land to its native foliage.
"They let us dig (the bulbs) up and save them," said Haeffner. "Most of them are heirloom or old varieties."
Daffodils are not native to America, or even North America, Haeffner noted. They were brought here from Europe - countries like Ireland, France, Portugal and Spain.
"When you see daffodils in the wild, we call those pseudo narcissus," said Haeffner. "That's what our forefathers brought."
Hobby Turns to Sport
Over the last 20-plus years, Haeffner has had quite an education in daffodils. She credits an old neighbor, the late Clifford Benson, with introducing her to the hardy flower in the '80s.
Haeffner has always been into gardening, but when her kids were young, she stuck to vegetables. As her kids got older, Haeffner had time to devote to gardening flowers.
She learned a lot from Benson, but she learned even more when she joined the GSLDS in 2004. That's where she picked up tricks of the trade that have truly grown her garden.
In 2005, the St. Louis club hosted the National American Daffodil Society Convention at Westport. Haeffner showed some of her daffodils and did well - she won the Small Growers Award (for gardeners with less than 100 cultivars) for her Avalache cultivar. She also received the Olive Lee Award from the American Daffodil Society.
Haeffner said the only other person she knows of in this area who currently grows daffodils to show is Knehans, but she hopes more local people will express an interest and get involved with the GSLDS.
"Our fee is only $5 a year and you're only required to do two activities a year," noted Haeffner, who currently is vice president of the GSLDS.
Hardy Perennials, and Deer, Mole Proof to Boot
Daffodils are hardy perennials, compared to other bulb flowers, like tulips, Haeffner said. One big advantage daffodils have over other bulb flowers is that they are poisonous to eat, which makes them deer and mole proof, she noted.
"They don't require feeding every year, and they multiply more than others," Haeffner added.
The blooming season for daffodils can be as long as two months if the right varieties are chosen. This year, the cool, wet weather provided ideal conditions.
"The colors are intense this year," Haeffner remarked.
According to the GSLDS Web site (www.stldaffodilclub.org), all daffodils are members of the genus narcissus. Daffodil is the common and preferred name, except when referring to a particular species.
Serious daffodil growers will sometimes throw around terms unknown to nongrowers. Following are some definitions of common daffodil terminology, as explained by the GSLDS Web site:
Jonquil is a term used incorrectly in some parts of the country to refer to all daffodils. A jonquil hybrid is descended from and resembles one of the Narcissus jonquilla group.
Cultivar is a cultivated variety, a hybrid, originated (bred) in someone's garden. All but the species are considered cultivars and all have non-Latin names.
Perianth are the three petals and three sepals (back petals) of a daffodil. Corona, cup or trumpet all refer to the same part of a daffodil's anatomy - that part which protrudes from the perianth. Cup and corona are used interchangeably for most divisions, while trumpet is used exclusively for Division 1 daffodils.
Also, large or long-cup are both used interchangeably for Division 2, and small or short-cup for Division 3.
There are 13 divisions of daffodils. Even seasoned gardeners will experience a treat with the fascinating variety of colors, forms and sizes available.
Favorites, Specialties
Haeffner has a variety of the daffodil divisions growing in her gardens. To keep track of what is what, she uses a Sharpie marker to write the name of the variety on the leaf when the flowers are in the garden, and once she picks them to show, she writes the name on the stem.
She also maintains a chart and database with the name of each variety, whom she acquired it from, the date she acquired it, the year it was introduced, who hybridized it and, of course, the location of it in her garden.
Haeffner's favorite daffodil is Avenger, a large cup variety that was registered in 1957 in Ireland. It has white petals and an orange-red cup.
A few of the other stand-outs in her garden include Butter and Eggs, which dates back to 1777. It's a "double" daffodil, meaning its cup is not defined, but interspersed with the petals, making it look a lot like a chrysanthemum; Double Play, which looks like a rose because of its clustered cup and petals; and Precocious, one of the "pink" cup daffodils.
This year, for the first time, the GSLDS sold potted "pink" daffodils for $10 at its show earlier this month and proceeds from the sale will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
"We wish to challenge other daffodil societies across the United States to also sell pink daffodils to benefit this very worthy cause," said Lynn Slackman, GSLDS president. "Everyone in our group has either been affected or knows someone who has been affected by breast cancer. The support of our organization, and others like us, is appreciated and needed by those individuals fighting this disease."
For more information on daffodils, people can visit the GSLDS Web site at www.stldaffodilclub.org. The site includes a link to DaffSeek, a daffodil photo database sponsored by the American Daffodil Society, www.daffodilusa.org. Mark your calendars - the GSLDS' annual bulb sale will be Sept. 20-21 at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
