Michael, I wish I'd met you at the bulb farm, but I was there early in the morning. I was impressed with Jamie's experience and knowledge; it seems that Bill left his farm in very good hands. I, too, admired his "forethoughtfullness" in planning for the transition. What a huge loss this is, but not what it could have been without his perceptive planning. Jamie says it's possible they may begin to have some retail sales at the farm. That would be lovely. And didn't the Narcissus smell divine? Lin On 2020-03-01 23:33, michaelcmace@gmail.com wrote: > I went to the memorial get-together at Bill the Bulb Baron's farm today. I > was very happy to hear that the business will continue -- Bill left the farm > to the couple who had been working with him. > > As I'm sure most of you know, there are far too many stories of bulb > businesses that either disappeared completely or were subject to desperate > last-minute rescue operations after the owner died. Bill planned ahead to > prevent that from happening, and I really respect it. > > I hadn't realized how prominent Bill was in the breeding of Tazetta > narcissus. The American Daffodil Society gave him its gold medal last year. > > The majority of plants at Bill's farm are Narcissus (past peak bloom, > unfortunately), but tucked away in various spots were all sorts of goodies: > Freesias scattered around in ones and twos, a few vivid yellow > Zantedeschias, a row of Watsonias in bud, a little bright purple patch of > Scilla peruviana (or whatever the heck we call them these days), and so on. > Plus I think about an acre of Amaryllis, with a few plants that looked like > Crinums at the edges. > > The plants all looked very vigorous and well cared for. > > I'm told that Bill died peacefully at the bulb farm, taking a nap in his > truck. Not a bad way to go. > > Mike > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…