AKWindWatcher I think a lot of folks know by now that I love me a good dahlia mystery and enjoy tracking down varieties. Yesterday, a friend contacted me asking if I knew anything about Normandy Sweet Lucy. It seems there are two versions floating around but there's even variation there. I found an old post from Ted over on CUBITs that talks about how there are two hybridizers who have used the Normandy moniker. I'm wondering if that might be part of the issue with there being two distinctly differently looking blooms. Does anybody have any insights into which is the correct (oldest) Normandy Sweet Lucy? The ADS only has it as a B/ID/LB - no picture. Below are pics from a couple of grower sites (1 in the US, 1 in Canada) who currently have NSL for sale, a pic from the Qubec society and one from a blog.
AKWindWatcher Pic number 1 and 4 are from grower sites, pic 2 is the blog, pic 3 is from the society.
Teddahlia Bob and Delores Schwinck(B & D Dahlias) lived in the Seattle area near Normandy park. (They were about 2 miles from Sea-Tac Dahlias). The Schwincks called their introductions Normandy this and that. I judged with him when he was over 90 and the other judge was over 90 too and they knew each other. I never got a word into the conversation and I was essentially the ribbon clerk. A British breeder much later started using Normandy as his moniker as the coast of France is Normandy and he must have liked the name. The British Dahlia officials became aware of the naming indiscretion and made the British person change to a different spelling(Normandie). Too late as there is and was mass confusion. Susan Griffen's picture that I really like.
SGriff AKWindWatcher hi there...i responded to your email. (there are no Normandy dahlias in that windowsill pic..I think Ted just likes it!). NSW is on my wishlist...I'd only ever seen the looser-petaled form. to me, it looks a bit SC in form, sort of like Just Peachy. Good luck with solving your mystery!
AKWindWatcher So, Sue (THANKS!) sent me in the direction of the Dahlias Identified page on FB. There Stephanie Marsh and Jen Penttila posted pictures of NSL and both of them look very close to pictures 1 and 4 above. Normandy Bright Day, however, looks very close to picture 2 so I'm wondering if a name just got swapped.
blown_dry Dahlias by Julie just posted NSL for their restock sale https://www.dahliasbyjulie.com/collection-mz/normandy-sweet
AKWindWatcher blown_dry I saw that. Her's is listed as a cactus but it is in line with what the other North American sellers have - including Canada. I asked CiCi about it as I found a picture of hers that was more decorative. Unfortunately, she didn't get it from the Schwincks. So, new options: Semi-cactus variety is correct and the ADS classification is wrong. That is entirely possible as there are known errors already - like for Montana Centennial. There, of course, we had Steve to confirm. Not sure if there's a family member of the Schwinck's that could do the same for NSL. Semi-cactus variety is incorrect, all of the sellers have the wrong one, and the real NSL is AWOL. (CiCi doesn't have hers anymore.)
Teddahlia The oldest ADS version of the color and form is the best evidence. Mis-named flowers in are not all that uncommon. Elva Sellens may have picture of it from back when as she was on a quest to take a film camera picture of every dahlia flower in the ADS book.
Teddahlia The Schwinks of Normandy fame lived near Normandy park South of Seattle that was just a mile or two from Sea-Tac Dahlias where Lou Eckhoff grew dahlias and ten children. Sea-Tac is the abbreviation for the airport for Seattle thus Seattle-Tacoma combined to a shorter name. We visited there and he was very informative about all things dahlia. Sea-Electra
