The Georgia Daffodil Society was founded in 1954 by some of Atlanta’s noted garden and society illuminaries. In the 1990s, south Georgia (old USDA Zone 8b, Savannah to Waycross to Blakely) was formally ceded to the Florida Daffodil Society (FDS). Because of the weather and soils, the cultivation methods and recommended daffodil cultivars of the FDS are appropriate for your area. The cultivation methods and list of successful daffodils for north Georgia are not for you.
The GDS sponsors an American Daffodil Society sanctioned, judged flower show every March in Atlanta, with daffodil gardeners from across the southeast participating. The show is usually held at the Chattahoochee Nature Center on the second weekend of the month. Further, we assist Historic Oakland Cemetery with its Daffodil Day(s) event the last weekend of February, supplying speakers for walking tours and cut flowers for an educational display (talks suspended for 2021 due to COVID concerns).
The GDS has three meetings annually, but they are not mandatory. In addition in October we have a fall bulb sale and in March a potted bulb and cut flower sale at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market in Buckhead, Atlanta. As opportunities present themselves, members will conduct rescue digs to save bulbs from redevelopment pressures. Most of these are then donated to Historic Oakland Foundation to expand the collection of heirloom Southern daffodils.
Our Society is forever indebted to the kindest of men, the late Captain John William Lipscomb, Jr. (United States Navy, Retired).
After a distinguished US Naval Career, John retired in 1974 to his 7-acre farm in Alpharetta, GA. “An avid gardener, John planted over 600 varieties of Daffodils in the pastures of his picturesque farm in Alpharetta. Every spring, the meadows came to life with resplendent shades of yellow, orange, and white and he delighted in inviting family, friends, neighbors, and school children over to enjoy the beauty of the daffodils. John’s natural masterpiece has been featured on HGTV’s ‘A Gardener’s Diary’, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and other publications.”
John was a very active member in both the American and Georgia Daffodil Societies. Recognizing the importance of well qualified judges at accredited flower shows, he generously gave innumerable aspiring judges a collection of 100 different varieties of daffodils. Judges are required “to grow them to know them.”
After John passed in 2014, his children encouraged several daffodil groups to come and dig the bulbs he had been growing for over 40 years. Many of his beauties are now growing in Atlanta’s Historic Oakland Cemetery, others were sold to raise funds to put on local daffodil shows and many are gracing the gardens of daffodil aficionados across America.
One of these gardens can be found at the Brevard Music Center in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Over the years, John had purchased many unnamed daffodils from America’s premier daffodil hybridizer, Grant E. Mitsch. John called these his “orphans” and planted them along with other unknown varieties in a special area in his upper pasture. During the many digs to save his bulbs, a NC member of the Georgia Daffodil Society was encouraged to dig all these “orphans” and replant them at the Music Center. As these multiply to the point they need to be divided, the Georgia society is able offer “John’s Legacy” of mixed bulbs to raise funds for future flower shows.
We feel John would agree with a beaming smile as we continue to share his love of daffodils!