It’s a blaze of yellow, white at gardens’ Daffodil Show

By Denise Dick

YOUNGSTOWN — Patches of gold, yellow and white daffodils dot the flower beds and line walkways at Mill Creek MetroParks’ Fellows Riverside Gardens.

Among them is Fellows Favorite, a daffodil cultivar named for the Mill Creek MetroParks’ Fellows Riverside Gardens, marking the gardens’ 50th — or golden — anniversary. The plant was hydridized by Brent and Becky Heath of Gloucester, Va., and hundreds of its bulbs were planted last fall along the paths and within beds at the gardens.

“One thing is the color,” said Keith Kaiser, horticulture director, of the traits sought in the hybridizing process.

Another is symmetry of the golden yellow petals and the way its flower stands straight on the stem.

The gardens got about 1,000 of the Fellows Favorite bulbs, sold several hundred and planted the remaining 300 to 400 last fall. They’re in full bloom.

It’s just one of one of about 150 varieties of daffodils at the West Side facility. From noon to 5 p.m. today and Sunday is the gardens’ Daffodil Show, one of 41 shows this spring throughout the country in association with the American Daffodil Society.

The show and the many daffodil varieties earned a mention in the travel section of Friday’s USA Today.

This is the first season of Fellows’ designation as an official American Daffodil Society Display Garden, the only one in Ohio.

“We’re one of 18 in the country,” Kaiser said.

Last year, the gardens was the Midwest regional site for the society and officials visited the gardens, he said.

Fellows and its display garden designation are listed in the society’s Daffodil Journal.

Kaiser said such national recognition is nice, both for the community and for people who work at the park.

“We have a really great place here,” he said.

Increased attention also drives visitors to the area who then may visit other sites too. The gardens sees more than 400,000 visitors each year including many from other states and countries, Kaiser said.

The gardens started its daffodil planting in the 1970s or 1980s and when Kaiser joined the staff in 1989, he increased it.

“I have a strong interest in daffodils,” he said.

They’re easy to grow, have a long life and rabbits and deer don’t eat them.

Daffodils will bloom in the gardens through mid-May, Kaiser said.

Daffodil Meadow, on West Newport Drive, along Lake Newport, is at its peak too.

“It was started in the 1940s and every year or so, we plant some more daffodils down there,” Kaiser said.