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. Until then, organized activity in the growing and showing of daffodils 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 American Daffodil Society was voted into existence and temporary officers elected. The Society’s organization was completed on January 22, 1955, when the Board of Directors elected Carey E. Quinn, President; Willis H. Wheeler, Secretary; and Mrs. William A. (Serena) Bridges, Treasurer. The American Daffodil Society was incorporated on February 20, 1958.

The first activity of the American Daffodil Society was to develop a publication. Over the years, this evolved from mimeographed sheets issued occasionally, through the small Daffodil Bulletin. The Bulletin was issued quarterly in conjunction with a yearbook. Today, the quarterly publication, Daffodil Journal, is greatly enlarged with beautiful color photographs and articles contributed by national and  international daffodil enthusiasts. The Daffodil Journal is now accepted as one of  the leading publication of daffodil news and views from around the world.

In 1964, the American Daffodil Society introduced The Daffodil Journal as we know it today. In 1966, 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 and is available to read at DaffLibrary.org, (under “and More”).

Recently, the American Daffodil Society made a commitment to provide a wide range of daffodil information and resources for free to the public using the Internet. To this end, the society hosts and maintains four daffodil websites on American Daffodil Society owned computer servers, the main American Daffodil Society web site: daffodilusa.org, the discussion forum: DaffNet.org, the free online library: DaffLibrary.org, the free presentation web site: DaffTube.org and the daffodil database, complete with pedigree trees, photos and hybridizing tools: DaffSeek.org. This commitment established the American Daffodil Society as a premier provider of  Internet tools for daffodils.