Forty years ago dad exhibited dahlias at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow
and so, last year we thought over the possibility of exhibiting
once again. All I knew about dahlias was that they were extremely
susceptible to early frost and living in a frost pocket as we
do meant everything would have to be covered.
The plan was to grow 280 dahlia plants in an existing glasshouse
but first of all the glass along one side and the gable end was
removed and replaced with "Rokolene". The old glasshouse
has seen better days, 30 years old now and showing it's age. How
it remains standing is one of life's great mysteries. We managed
to complete the renovation by the middle of February, all that
remained to do was to cross our fingers and hope that all our
endeavours would prove worthwhile.
Being an absolute beginner the first thing I did was to join the
National Dahlia Society and send off for their booklets on the
topic of dahlia growing. What a big disappointment those books
turned out to be, very little in the way of practical information
which is what I needed most. More disappointments were to follow,
dahlia tubers that had been promised during the autumn failed
to materialise. Oh well, back to the drawing board for a re-think.
It seems I followed in the great tradition of growing too many
varieties of dahlias. Of course it was the middle of August before
I found out I had made the classic mistake all beginners make.
Continuing on a theme the next mistake was to start the dahlia
tubers of too early. WELL! What else is there to do in the middle
of January? By the 4th February the first signs of life were appearing
and come March 19th 43 dahlia cuttings were rooted and potted
on into three inch pots. Another problem, what temperature should
I try to maintain in the glasshouse? I tried 62, most likely that
was too warm but then I am growing begonias, cucumber, courgette
and tomato plants at the same time.
Planted out the dahlias during the first week in June. They took
off as if powered by a Saturn Five rocket with the result on June
14th they were all stopped. Pea sized buds on June 21st, only
thing to do was get in there with a scythe. I wonder if you can
make dahlia soup? Only the end of June and the compost bin is
overflowing already.
First dahlia show for me was the Glasgow Evergreen, poor light
in the marquee which made it twice as difficult for me to try
my hand at staging. Checked all blooms with the rings, my rings
must be oversized because Evelyn Foster was NAS. Felt quite bad
about that at the time but after the National at Stirling I realised
that there are a lot of growers out there with the same oversized
rings that I have been using.
Maybe I can't grow dahlias but at least I managed a red ticket
at Chryston for a marrow. Dad and I attended most of the local
shows which was a bit tiring. We would stage one on Friday night
and another on the Saturday morning. One thing that struck me
as being odd was how quickly the show was wound up. There I was
giving the dahlias tender loving care for six months only to have
the blooms thrown in a rubbish bin or sold off after having been
on show for less than three hours. The shows seem to be for the
growers with the general public used as a means of disposal of
the end products. Here I was thinking the idea of the "local
show" was to allow members of the public an insight into
the horticultural world.
Despite being given so much help from two renowned dahlia growers
Davy Ruxton and John Buchanan I still managed to produce oversized
blooms. I think my problem was being too exhuberant in stripping
the plants right down instead of two or three pairs of leaves.
By the time the "National" came round I was almost "cut
out". However the word on the grapevine was that quite a
number of people had mistimed their blooms. I went along on the
Sunday prior to the show to lend a helping hand. At the time I
had visions of having to carry all the single vases of dahlias
down the stairs to fill up the show but as you all know it turned
out to be very spectacular. I entered in the novice class and
put in a 3x3 which turned out to be invisible to the judges eye.
At least when you get an NAS it means the judges actually looked
at your exhibit.
Taking the whole season through it turned out quite well for me.
I managed to pick up a ticket or two at every show excepting the
"Monklands". But I have a good excuse, I didn't have
any flowers left to show. So, what happens now? WELL! it is the
START of another season, do I try harder with the dahlias next
year or go back to what I do best radio communication? It is going
to be extremely difficult to "follow in dad's footsteps".