Garden Club gearing up for annual Daffodil Show

Dianne Bowditch, current President of the Garden Club of Shelter Island, is also a national judge for the American Daffodil Society.

Ms. Bowditch had the honor this year of being asked to join the judging panel at the ADS National Convention in Sacramento, California from March 9 to 12.

“I judged alongside seasoned judges Robert Darling from Washington D.C. and Larry Force, a hybridizer and top national award winner from Mississippi who’s original bloom won Best In Show this year,” wrote Ms. Bowditch in a release. “A wonderful experience for me.”

Coincidentally, the Garden Club’s first vice president, Sandy Baxter, originally hails from Sacramento and she decided to return home and attend the convention with Ms. Bowditch.

Notably, Ms. Baxter entered her family’s garden blooms and promptly one two Blue Ribbons in the Historics Class for her King Alfred daffodils.

“Sandy was also scooped up by the Convention Show committee and asked to Clerk the show, which gave her enormous exposure to top Show Daffodils from around the country, UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand,” Ms. Bowditch noted.

The Garden Club of Shelter Island will be celebrating over 20 years of Daffodil Shows this year with its show on Saturday, April 22 at Quinipet Camp & Retreat Center from 2 to 5 p.m. The show was founded by Allie Fiske, the former first Lady of Sylvester Manor, and nine ADS judges from around the country will be spending that weekend on Shelter Island.

“So if you see ladies in yellow, sporting daffodils — please stop and say hello!” Ms. Bowditch wrote. “They are anxious to see our beautiful Island.”

This year, the Garden Club has added a class to the Daffodil Show for the public to enter called “My Favorite Daffodil.”

The club is hoping the community will join in and perhaps win a blue ribbon themselves. Entries are being accepted on Friday, April 21 from 2 to 6 p.m. The judges will be on hand to help identify your beauty.